Madison’s powerful offense charges Mallards in front of Rafters to snap skid

Wisconsin Rapids, WI – Donnie Scott’s Mallards began second-half play at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids on Tuesday afternoon and came away with an 8-5 win to take game  one of the divisional series.

Madison gave Luke Reed the ball for his second start of the season and fell behind by a single run in the bottom of the 2nd on a run-scoring swing from Chris Conniff to open the scoring. Reed allowed just one run over four innings, striking out four. He was followed by shutout performances from Jake Hilton and Cam Clines from the 5th through 8th innings.

The Mallards offense responded in the top of the 3rd against Hayden Cody with two cuts of the bat. Ryan Sprock launched his fifth homer of the year which plated three runs giving Madison their first lead at 3-1. One pitch later, Owen Jackson clobbered his fourth longball to extend the lead to four. The 4th of July early fireworks weren’t done there for Madison as Cal Fisher smoked his first collegiate home run on a line to left to push the lead to five. Then in the 7th, Owen Jackson led off the inning with his second home run of the day off of Mitchell Wittkamp to become the first Mallard since 2021 to hit multiple home runs in a single game. The offense would add two more in the 7th on an RBI double hit by Fisher and a single from Jackson Tucker.

The Witter Field crowd had been quiet since taking the early 1-0 lead until the bottom of the 9th. After Brock Blatter struck out the first batter, the Rafters offense began to click. The next six batters to the plate reached, cutting the lead down to 8-3 when Madison called on Rashad Ruff out of the bullpen. Ruff picked up the final two outs with the bases loaded to close out the afternoon matchup and give Madison a 1-0 record in the second-half.

Madison’s road trip will continue tomorrow at Witter Field as they wrap up their series with Wisconsin Rapids. First pitch is slated for 6:05 P.M. CST in the series finale.