Madison, Wis. (July 8) – Capturing a victory in Tuesday’s series opener thanks to Anthony Gonsolin’s (St. Mary’s College) pair of home runs, the Madison Mallards (4-2, 24-17) will look to claim a series sweep of the Willmar Stingers (4-3, 27-14) Wednesday evening at Bill Taunton Stadium. Tonight’s contest, scheduled for 7:05 p.m., will conclude Madison’s five-game road trip away from the Duck Pond. Full play-by-play coverage will be provided by 100.5 FM ESPN Madison.
Tonight, the Mallards will turn to Dalton D’Spain (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) to provide a strong outing in his seventh start of the summer. Coming off a winning decision July 2 vs. Kalamazoo in which he allowed four runs in five innings, D’Spain holds true to Madison’s team-high in wins (4) to go alongside a 3.44 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 32:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .202 opponent batting average. The 6-foot-1 right hander has also logged three quality starts this summer.
To counter, the Stingers will task left-handed pitcher Brian Kehner (Presbyterian) with his second start of the season. After contributing out of Willmar’s bullpen to begin 2015, the 5-foot-11 southpaw received his first starting gig of the summer July 1 versus Eau Clair and pitched admirably, logging seven strikeouts and ceding just one run across eight innings en route to the win. Overall, Kehner is 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA and 16:5 K/BB ratio in seven games (19 IP) thus far.
- Triple Crown Chase – Going 3-for-5 with two round-trippers and four runs batted in on Tuesday, Gonsolin has vaulted himself into a tie for the Northwoods League’s lead in home runs (9) while ranking sixth-best in batting average (.336) among qualifiers. His 28 runs batted in this summer ranks fourth-most among his counterparts.
The Mallards will return to the Duck Pond on Thursday, July 9 at 7:05 p.m. against the Kenosha Kingfish. Thursday’s game will feature a Motorcycle Maynard Bobblehead Giveaway presented by WKOW-TV at the front gates of the stadium while supplies last and a pre-game skydiving and tandem skydive giveaway presented by Great Lakes Skydiving. For tickets, call the Mallards ticket office at 608-246-4277 or visit www.MallardsBaseball.com for more information.
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The Madison Mallards are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.MallardsBaseball.com.
