The Mallards offense struggles after rain delay in loss to Fond du Lac
Madison, WI – The Mallards and the Dock Spiders began tonight’s game with a rain delay of over an hour from Warner Park for the first time since 2021. Fond du Lac thrived in the light drizzle the rest of the way with a 5-1 win over Madison.
Tuesday marked the second time of the year that Mallards’ starter Bryce Leedle and Dock Spiders’ starter Logan Eisenbarth squared off on the mound. Both pitchers were strong from the get-go in their third starts of the year. It took until the 3rd inning for a team to engineer any offense. Madison scored first on a two-out single from Isaiah Jackson, scoring Ryan Sprock.
From there, the Mallards offense would go quiet. Eisenbarth, who threw seven innings of scoreless ball his first time out against Madison, finished the day with five innings and just the one run. After the Mallards took the early one-run edge, Fond du Lac’s offense was ignited against Leedle. Three consecutive singles led off the inning. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Drew Barragan tied the game at 1-1, bringing home Luke Novistske. A wild pitch scored Travis Strickler from third in a two-strike count to Jack Peterson with two away. A pitch later, Peterson singled to score both Barragan and Jacob Anderson to earn a 4-1 lead.
Eisenbarth was shelved after five innings and Fond du Lac’s first year Manager Doug Coe went to the bullpen for Tanner Smith. The right-hander from Presbyterian College shut down the Madison offense the rest of the way. The Dock Spiders tacked on one more run in the top of the 9th against Madison reliever Chad McCann with a Strickler sacrifice-fly. Two Mallards would reach in the bottom of the 9th on singles from Mike Gupton and Jake Holcroft, but Smith forced Jackson Chatterton to pop-out to end the game, snapping a five-game losing streak for Fond du Lac.
The Northwoods League will enjoy a day off on Wednesday before beginning a lengthy stretch of games through the rest of June. Madison returns to play on Thursday at Lakeshore to begin a home-and-home series with the Chinooks at 6:35 P.M. from Kapco Park in Mequon.
