Madison, WI – The Madison Mallards (44-18) defeated the Green Bay Rockers (28-34) twice on Friday at Warner Park, belting six home runs across two games to move into first place in the Great Lakes West division.
Game 1
The first game was a resumption of the game between the two teams on Thursday night at Green Bay that was suspended due to weather. The game continued at Warner Park in the fifth inning with the Rockers leading 4-3, and Green Bay grew their lead right away.
Jake Bold (Princeton) blasted a solo home run to extend the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, and a Sam Miller (Columbia) solo home run in the sixth inning helped them grow the lead. Green Bay brought a 9-6 advantage into the ninth inning.
In the ninth, the Mallards clawed away at the lead, as Dawson Hokuf (Cincinnati) and Liam Moreno (St. Cloud State) drove in runs to cut the lead to 9-8. Then with Madison down to their final strike, Isaac Kim (UC Santa Barbara) punched an RBI single to right field to tie the game at nine.
With the game tied and the bases loaded in the ninth, Shai Robinson (Illinois State) delivered a heroic moment, cranking a go-ahead grand slam to give the Mallards a 13-9 lead. Madison scored seven runs in the ninth inning to win a thrilling game 13-10.
Addison Southwick (Augustana) picked up the win for the Mallards in relief, his third of the season. Charlie Adamson (Hawaii) was charged with the loss for the Rockers.
Game 2
After a tough ending for Green Bay in the first game, the Rockers got off to a good start in the second game, when Makani Tanaka (Oral Roberts) homered on the second pitch of the game. The Rockers added on another run in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
After Madison didn’t have a base runner through the first three innings of the game, the offense finally woke up in the fourth inning. A walk and an error put two runners on base for Korbyn Dickerson (Louisville), who smashed a three run home run to give the Mallards a 3-2 lead. Frankie Carney (UC Irvine) followed it up with his first home run of the season, as Madison went back-to-back.
The home run derby continued in the fifth inning as Lane Allen (Blinn College) hit a two-run home run to give Green Bay a 5-4 lead. The Mallards answered right back in the bottom half of the inning as Robinson launched another home run to tie the game at five, and Davis Hamilton (North Dakota State) sent yet another over the fence to give Madison a 6-5 lead. There were a total of 11 home runs hit between the teams on the day.
The Mallards picked up some insurance in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Jake Schaffner (North Dakota State) and Frankie Carney each drove in multiple runs in the inning to grow the lead to 11-5, and Madison held on to win by that score.
Carson Fluno (Louisiana – Lafayette) was credited with the win on the mound for the Mallards, his second of the season. Connor Nolen (Carroll) was charged with the loss for Green Bay. Hannoh Seo (Pomona-Pitzer) picked up his first save of the season.
With the win, the Mallards improve to 20-8 in the second half of the season, and move into first place in the Great Lakes West division. Green Bay falls to 14-12 in the second half and is five games out of first place.
The Mallards will face the Wausau Woodchucks in a critical series this weekend. The first game takes place Saturday night in Wausau at 6:05 p.m. The Mallards will return to Warner Park on Sunday to face the Woodchucks at 5:05 p.m.
