The Mallards’ offense comes alive for 10 to split series with Lakeshore
Madison, WI – For the first time in 2023, the Mallards rebranded to the Madison Muskallards and the change sparked the offense for 10 runs in their 10-3 win over Lakeshore on Friday night.
For the second consecutive night, the Chinooks snatched the early lead against a Mallards’ starter. Today it was the left-handed Tommy Meyer in his third start during the 2nd inning. Lakeshore grabbed a 1-0 edge on a Will Johannes single which scored Brady Counsell, who made his debut in Madison on Friday. Madison’s offense would rebound in the bottom of the 2nd with two runs of their own. Swings from Keenan Taylor and Jake Holcroft gave the Mallards their first lead in the home-half.
Lakeshore evened the score a half inning later against Meyer when Josh Overbeekwalked with the bases loaded. Meyer struck out Counsell to end the threat after the game was tied at 2-2. The Mallards offense grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the 4th when Jake Holcroft singled with two outs for the second time in the ballgame, Holcroft reached in all five plate appearances. Manager Donnie Scott went to the bullpen twice early on to relieve Meyer. Brock Blatter made his debut in the 4th, facing four batters and striking out one. Trent Simmons came on in the 5th and tossed two-plus innings of scoreless baseball until the final hitter of the 7th.
The fun for the Mallards offense started in the bottom of the 6th. All nine of Madison’s batters came to the plate in the 6th inning against Jackson Bahn and Caden Morton. The North-Siders plated six runs in the inning highlighted by Owen Jackson’s first bomb of the season. The Mallards utilized two different Chinooks’ errors by their middle infield which aided the offensive attack, making the score 9-2 after scoring just one run a piece in each of the last two ballgames.
Lakeshore cut the lead to six runs in the top of the 7th when Josh Overbeen flew out to sacrifice himself for Joey Spence. Madison scored one more time as well with Jake Goolsby home run, his second of the year at Warner Park.
Madison evened the season series with the Chinooks at 3-3 with the blowout win on Friday night. The Mallards welcome the Kalamazoo Growlers to Warner Park for a two-game weekend in Madison for the first time since 2021 in a cross-divisional series. First pitch scheduled for 6:05 P.M. against the reigning champions of the Northwoods League.
