The Madison Mallards entered Tuesday’s game at Alexandria in hopes of starting a winning streak. After ending a seven game losing streak the night before against St. Cloud, Madison got off to a quick start against the Beetles, but were unable to sustain the early momentum in a 10-5 loss.
The Mallards scored first as Jordan Comadena (pictured) led off the game with a single. He moved to second on a Bobby Hubbard sacrifice, then scored on Randy Molina’s single to right. The Mallards continued to threaten in the first as Ryan Bond walked and Mike Rohde laid down a bunt for a single to load the bases. Catcher Jordan Wolf bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
The Beetles tied the score in the bottom of the first when Danny Worth scored on a fielders choice grounder by Jonathan Greene.
Neither team scored again until the fourth inning. Mallards’ reliever Casey Baron allowed a solo homer to Jermaine Curtis to give the Beetles the lead. Alexandria scored again in the fifth on Worth’s solo homerun to make the score 3-1.
Madison got withing a run in the sixth. Molina singled and moved to second on Bond’s single. Rohde’s grounder forced Bond at second, placing runners at the corners for Wolf. His groundout to second scored Molina to make the score 3-2.
Things blew up for Madison in the bottom of the sixth as the Beetles sent nine men to the plate against Baron. Derek VanBuskirk hit a three run homer with two outs to make the score 6-2. The next two batters singled and both scored on Worth’s triple down the right field line.
The Mallards added a run in the seventh as Comadena hit his first homerun of the season over the center field fence. The Beetles, however, scored two more in the bottom of the seventh against the third Mallards pitcher, Eddie Burns.
Down 10-3, the Mallards scored a run in the eighth as Bond scored on a Brian Smith groundout. Madison added one in the ninth when Comadena scored on a throwing error by Alexandria’s catcher, Digger Towe. With Comadena at second, Towe’s return throw after a Tim Beasley pitch went over Beasley’s head, allowing Comadena to move to third. Comadena scored on another errant throw by Towe to set the final score, 10-5.
Comadena scored three runs in the game and leads the Mallards with 15 runs scored this year. The Mallards did record 11 hits in the game but left nine runners on base.
Baron took the loss and saw his record fall to 1-2.
The teams meet again Wednesday night in Alexandria. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. You’ll hear the game on Madison’s Fox Sports Radio, 100.5 FM or www.mallardsradio.com.
