Mallards drop second straight as offense starts late again

Madison, WI – Madison was swept in a two-game divisional series on Tuesday night at Warner Park by the visiting Wisconsin Rapids Rafters by a score of 4-2.

The Rafters scored sporadically in the first half of the contest against Madison’s Nick West, who started his first game of the year on Tuesday. West turned in four innings, allowing two runs and striking out two. Wisconsin Rapids extended their lead against reliever Chad McCann when Garrett Broussard smashed his second home run of the year to give the Rafters a 4-0 edge in the 5th.

In game one of the series, it took the Mallards until the 6th inning to score at Witter Field. On Tuesday, it took the offense until the 7th to crack the scoreboard. The Mallards couldn’t get anything moving against Calen Graham, who notched five scoreless innings. With two on and two out, Jackson Tucker laced a single to right to score Ryan Sprock (3-3, BB). However, Tucker was thrown out at second by Brendan Bobo trying to extend the play to end the threat.

Madison cut into the lead again in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs on Jake Goolsby’s (3-4) double. Following Goolsby’s swing, Tucker walked to load the bases against Mikiah Negrete. Noah Sudyka ripped a ground ball right to Luke Hanson at shortstop to end the game.

Wednesday is scheduled for the second league-wide double header day and the Mallards are set to host the Lakeshore Chinooks. Game one of the day-night double header is set for 12:35 P.M. CST and game two is scheduled for 6:35 P.M. at Warner Park.