Mallards Fall Behind Early, Split Series with Chinooks
Madison unable to produce after rain delay in loss
Mequon, WI – The Mallards dropped a game to split a two-game series with the Lakeshore Chinooks from Kapco Park in Mequon by a final score of 12-2 on Monday night. The two teams season series is now knotted at four apiece.
The Mallards fell behind early once again as the Chinooks put up a four spot in the bottom of the 1st inning against right handed starter Mitchell Leroy. Leroy (L, 2-1), making his third start of the season, was following an appearance where he earned Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night last Wednesday from Warner Park. The Junior from Florida Southern College allowed six hits and had to work through two errors behind him which extended the first two frames as Lakeshore also scratched three runs across the board in the bottom of the 2nd for an early 7-0 edge, all with two outs.
Madison showed fight in the top of the 3rd inning against Chinooks’ starter Mitch Alba as Liam Moreno, who leads the team in batting average and on-base percentage, singled and was followed by a J.J. Wetherholt triple to score the Ducks first run. Wetherholt scored on a wild-pitch just one pitch after his first three-bagger of the year to make it 7-2, Lakeshore. Following a one-two-three inning from Leroy, the game entered a rain delay of over an hour which sent the Mallards to the team bus, sitting dormant for the time being. After the delay, the bats remained quiet throughout the rest of the contest against a handful of Chinooks’ pitchers and Leroy was forced out of the game.
Lakeshore came out of the delay swinging by plating three more runs in the bottom of the 4th against Mallards’ relief arm Gauge Lockhart. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases full of Chinooks. A fielder’s choice, sacrifice fly, and double scored all three free-passes to put double-digit runs on the board. The game stood quiet for the next three innings as both teams were unable to score a run. The next runs to cross the plate were in the bottom of the 8th inning against Mallards’ position player, Jack Merrifield who struck out the most of any pitcher in the game with four. All the damage occurred with two outs in the 8th. A Stephen Hrustich single kicked things off before back-to-back doubles from Aidan Longwell and Josh Johnson. Lakeshore put Aidan Longwell on the bump to close out the game.
The Mallards wrap up their longest road trip of the season tomorrow at Herr Baker Field in Fond du Lac to begin a home-and-home series with the Dock Spiders to start a five game homestand. Action can be found on the Northwoods League website under the ‘Live Action’ tab at 6:35 PM.
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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’ 28th 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 280 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 (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com. For more information, visit www.greenbayrockers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rockers as your favorite team.
