Mallards Sweep Dock Spiders to Advance to Divisional Championship
A win on the road keeps Mallards moving in postseason 

Fond du Lac, WIS. – The Mallards headed to Herr Baker Field a game up for Game Two of a best-of-three Sub-Divisional playoff matchup against the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders. 

Despite light offense in the first two innings, the Mallards capitalized on two wild pitches and a defensive error by the Dock Spiders to take a 3-0 lead. In the first inning, a wild pitch during a JT Benson (Louisville) at bat brought Cam Cratic (Missouri State University) in to kickstart the Mallards scoring. A hit-by-pitch and a double by Josh Caron (Nebraska) put Tyler Dean (St. Edward’s) in position to score off of a defensive error by the Dock Spiders shortstop bringing the Mallards up 2-0 in the second. The Dock Spiders replaced their starter, Austin Sachen (Washington University in St. Louis) with Jake Suddreth (West Texas A&M) mid-two, but a wild pitch brought in Caron to bring the lead to 3-0. 

The next three innings were scoreless. Dock Spiders pitcher, Suddreth tallied 5 strikeouts and no hits while on the mound for the Dock Spiders through innings 3, 4, and 5. This was matched by Luke Hansel (Madison College), for the Mallards, who navigated a few close calls including one where he forced a swinging strikeout in the bottom of the 5th to clear loaded bases. 

Scoring resumed in the top of the 6th with a deep RBI-Double from Bryant Shellenbarger (University of Akron) to drive Benson in, bringing the Mallards up 4-0. 

The Dock Spiders got on the board in the top of the seventh off of a Mallards defensive error that occurred on a single hit by Albert Rios (Stanford). However, the Spiders failed to capitalize on another bases loaded situation to leave the score at 4-1 after the 7th inning. 

After a scoreless eighth inning, closer Jared Fong took the mound for the Mallards in the bottom 9th. He closed the game with two strikeouts and a putout recording the save. Hansel was awarded the win for the Mallards, while Sachen recorded the loss for the Dock Spiders. The sweep ended the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders’ season. Meanwhile, the Mallards advance to the Divisional Championship. 

With a split series between the Kokomo Jackrabbits and the Traverse City PitSpitters, the Mallards await their playoff fate. The winner of the Sub-Divisional Great Lakes East third game tomorrow will host the Divisional Championship on Wednesday night. 

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The Madison Mallards are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions  Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.mallardsbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Mallards as your favorite team.