WAUSAU, WI. – The Wisconsin Woodchucks took advantage of nine walks to defeat the Madison Mallards 7-2 on Monday at Athletic Park.
“You could see why they are 12-2, because if you give them free baserunners and four or five outs an inning, they are going to score a lot of runs,” Madison manager Darrell Handelsman said. “They can hit. They don’t strike out a lot and put the ball in play. When you give them walks and make mistakes, you are playing with fire with these guys.”
The Woodchucks evened the score at one when Tony Roth walked with the bases loaded. They then took the lead on Ben Zobrist’s sacrifice fly.
“Anytime you can take advantage of what they give you, it is big,” Wisconsin catcher Ned Yost Jr. said. “If they give you a couple free baserunners and we put the ball in play, it makes it easier that way.”
The Woodchucks managed eight hits after getting just one the night before.
“I don’t think anyone was worried we weren’t going to score any runs, unlike we did last night,” Zobrist said. “I think we knew the floodgates were going to open tonight because there was a drought last night. Once we put those runs up, we knew it was going to come as the game went on.”
The Woodchucks took command with three runs in the fourth to open a 6-2 lead. Wisconsin first baseman Scott Koerber drove in one of the runs when he walked with the bases loaded. He finished with two hits and three runs batted in.
“You definitely want to put some hits up,” Koerber said. “You don’t want to be shut out two nights in a row. Coming out in batting practice, everyone was ready to go from that point on.”
Jeff Gilmore pitched seven strong innings to pick up the win for the Woodchucks. He improved to 3-1 this season.
“If they pitch good, they are hard to beat,” Handelsman said. “They played hard, I was impressed. It is a good test for us. Tonight, obviously we didn’t step up to the test.”
The Woodchucks maintained their three-game lead in the Northwoods League South Division standings with the win. The second-place Rochester Honkers beat Waterloo 11-1.
The Mallards return home on Wednesday night to host the Waterloo Bucks. Game time is 7:05.
