The Mallards earned their second consecutive win behind complete team performance
Madison, WI – Madison and Kalamazoo played for the first time since the summer of 2021 on Saturday night and the Mallards were able to beat the 2022 Northwoods League World Series Champions by a score of 3-1.
The Growlers offense was a foot away, literally, from taking a two-run lead in the top of the 1st against Mallards’ ace Derek Salata. Kalamazoo’s catcher, Casen Taggert gave a Salata pitch a ride to right-center where Mallards’ center fielder Jake Holcroft stole a homer away from Taggert.
It didn’t take Madison’s offense to get on the scoreboard. In the home half of the 1st, a Canyon Brown dribbler up the middle scored Estevan Moreno to give Madison a 1-0 lead. They would add two more runs on the day in the first half of the contest. Owen Jacksonsingled home Ryan Sprock, who hit his second triple of the year with one out in the inning against Growlers’ starter Tanner Ware. Donnie Scott’s crew extended their lead to two in the bottom of the 4th inning after Korbyn Dickerson led off the inning with a single. Jake Goolsby bunted Dickerson to second and later in the frame, Holcroft grounded out to score Korbyn to give the Mallards a 3-0 advantage.
Salata, after going five innings in each of his first three starts, surprisingly only threw 56 pitches over three innings. Madison used three arms out of the bullpen starting with Cam Clines in the 4th and 5th, handing it off to Will Morris for three scoreless innings before calling on the freshman from North Carolina University, Will Simmons to pick up his first career save.
Although Kalamazoo left 11 runners on base and were even in the hit category, their offense was only able to scratch the board one time in the top of the 5th against Clines when a John Kramer singled to score Taggert.
Madison, winners of two straight, round out their three-game home stand tomorrow against the Kalamazoo Growlers with a 12:35 P.M. scheduled first pitch. Josh Wintroub will get the ball for the second time this summer in a Mallards’ uniform.
