The Mallards lost ground on the top of the West with two losses at Wausau
Wausau, WI – The Mallards were swept in their day-night double-header from Athletic Park in Wausau on Wednesday by final scores of 14-8 and 8-7 in extra innings.
Game One
The first of two games on Wednesday marked the first start for freshman right-hander Will Simmons. Simmons gave the team a chance to win the ballgame with just less than four innings pitched while allowing three runs. A tough start for the bullpen allowed the Woodchucks to grab a commanding early lead and not look back, although the Mallards offense scored scattered runs. Wausau put 14 hits on the board in the first contest a day after Madison’s defense allowed 20 hits to last-place Fond du Lac. All but two Woodchucks reached base three times in the 12:05 game.
Six runs in the bottom of the 5th inning against Mallards’ righty Nick Argento and four runs off of Cam Clines were plenty enough for the Woodchucks to earn the win in game one. Ryan Sprock and Owen Jackson both hit their third home runs of the campaign in the middle innings of the blowout loss. Madison’s offense struggled against Wausau’s Travis Lutz in his second start against the North-Siders. Lutz struck out seven over six innings of work.
Game Two
In the nightcap, the Mallards were off to a much better start thanks to a Keenan Taylor (1) home run to straightaway center field. After Taylor’s first longball, Ryan Sprock singled and was later scored on Korbyn Dickerson’s line drive to take an early 2-0 lead. Madison would pad that lead in the 3rd against Wausau’s Luke Fernandez with Jake Holcroft knocking in Canyon Brown. The Woodchucks were on the board for the first time against Kade Lancour in the bottom half of that inning on Drew Berkland’s second home run of the double-header. Lancour turned in just south of six innings, allowing eight hits and four runs. Madison has yet to win a game behind Lancour’s strong four starts in the first-half of the season.
The Mallards would grow their lead in the top of the 5th against Fernandez and reliever Brian Reinke. Madison put six runners on base in the inning led by a Sprock double, scoring three. Following this point, momentum started to teeter in favor of the hosts. With two runners on against Lancour, Dalton Pearson (3-5, 2 2B) hit a ground-ball down the third base line, called foul on what likely should have been fair. The call would be argued by Wausau’s Manager Brock Moss. Next pitch, a foul ball called fair, scoring two runs making it 5-3. Mallards’ Manager Donnie Scott emerged from the dugout to converse about the call. The talk quickly got hot and turned into an argument ending in the second ejection for Scott in the last two days.
Heading into the 9th, Madison held onto their lead but it had been cut down to two. With two outs against Nic Schutte, Jake Goolsby smashed his third home run of the year to make it three. Sean Brown, taking over for Scott, opted for his closer, Rashad Ruff for the bottom of the 9th. Ruff threw nine consecutive balls out of the zone to start the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. Later in the frame, Wausau had closed the gap to one with two outs and a 2-2 count against Jesse Donohoe. The Wausau second baseman then singled to right to score the tying run.
For the second time this season, Madison and Wausau headed for extras. On the first pitch of the 10th, Jake Holcroft dribbled a ball to the outfield where Dalton Pearson threw from his center field position to the plate to cut down Estevan Moreno. Madison went down without scoring. The Mallards threw Will Morris into the 10th against the red-hot Wausau offense. After earning the first two outs, Morris walked Mike Maginnis to flip the lineup for Pearson. The potential All-Star singled into center which scored Brady Jurgella to walk-off the Mallards in game two, 8-7.
Madison has an important turnaround in front of them. Now a few games back in the Great Lakes West, they square off with the Green Bay Rockers for the first time this year. First pitch scheduled for 6:05 P.M. CST in game one of the series at Warner Park.
