Madison blows out Traverse City in first game of road excursion

Traverse City, MI – Madison began a four-game road trip on Saturday in Michigan to kickoff a two-game series with the Traverse City Pit Spitters. The Mallards dominated game one, 18-5.

Traverse City dealt their ace on Saturday night against Madison’s offense. Josh Lanham entered with an undefeated record and a sub-3 earned run average. After two scoreless innings, Lanham was ambushed for eight runs in the top of the 3rd. In the inning, the Mallards knocked around Lanham for eight hits including Mike Gupton’s first home run of the year which plated three on a no-doubter to left. The long offensive half-inning forced Lanham out of the game early, turning things over to Nathan Dvorsky.

Against Clemson’s Dvorsky in the 4th, Madison tacked on four more runs with help from Isaiah Jackson’s second double which scored Ryan Sprock (3-5) and Owen Jackson. The offense wouldn’t stop there. Still bombarding Dvosrsky, Keenan Taylor smoked his second home run of the year to give Madison a 13-0 lead. One inning later, Jake Holcroft singled in two more runs to jump ahead by 15.

All of this occurred while Madison’s Josh Wintroub was dealing against the Pit Spitters’ bats. Wintroub rebounded after an early exit in his last start with five scoreless, striking out four. Wintroub only battled traffic one time in the 1st inning.

Traverse City scratched the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom of the 6th when reliever Nolan McCracken couldn’t find the strike zone for Madison. McCracken issued five free passes before Donnie Scott went to the bullpen for Cole Heath, who rolled a double-play on his second pitch to strand multiple baserunners. The Pit Spitters added three more runs throughout the rest of the game against Heath and Cam Clines.

Offensively for the North-Siders, the team finished with 18 total runs after scoring three more in the top of the 9th on a Ryan Sprock double. Every Mallard in the order was in the stat-sheet with a hit. Ryan Sprock and Davis Hamilton, who earned Northwoods League Player of the Night on Friday, both tallied three hits.

With Madison’s win and with losses to Green Bay, Wausau, and Wisconsin Rapids, the Mallards are tied for first-place in the Great Lakes West with nine games to play in the first-half. Game two against Traverse City is scheduled for 4:05 P.M. CST/5:05 P.M. EST from Turtle Creek Stadium.