Fond du Lac, WI – The Madison Mallards (28-20) battled back from an early deficit but ultimately fell to the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders (20-31) on Sunday afternoon.

Fond du Lac jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Thomas Googins (Princeton University) opened the scoring with an RBI single before Carter Kelley (University of Nebraska) added a sacrifice fly later in the frame to put the Dock Spiders ahead 2-0.

Madison answered in the fourth inning, cutting the deficit in half when Jonah Weathers (University of Louisville) launched a solo home run over the wall. The Mallards continued the rally later in the inning, as Aiden Arnett (Virginia Tech) scored on an Ashton Quiller (Arkansas State University) groundout to even the game at 2-2.

The tie remained intact until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Googins came through again with a two-out RBI single to put Fond du Lac back in front. The Dock Spiders added an insurance run in the eighth on a Carson Willis (University of Arkansas) RBI single and held on for the 4-2 victory.

Henry Warta (UT Dallas) earned the win on the mound for Fond du Lac, while Will Kennedy (University of Illinois) was charged with the loss for Madison. Townsend Stevenson (Washington University) recorded the save for the Dock Spiders.

The Mallards will travel to Wausau on Monday night to take on the Woodchucks at 6:05 p.m. Madison will return to Warner Park on Tuesday for a doubleheader against the Lakeshore Chinooks, with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m.