Madison, WI – April 17, 2012. \u00a0the Mallards have announced the signing of junior right-handed pitcher Mark Sappington from Rockhurst University and junior catcher Galen Smith from the University of West Georgia. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Sappington, a 6’4″, 220 pound pitcher from Peculiar, Missouri will join the Mallards after his third season with the Hawks. \u00a0So far in 2012, Sappington has a 6-2 record, 1.86 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 58 innings pitched. \u00a0His sophomore season he finished 6-4 with a 3.51 ERA. \u00a0He pitched 81.2 inning and finished with two complete game shutouts. \u00a0His freshman year he compiled a 4-4 record with a 5.63 ERA.<\/p>\n
“Mark is a stong, durable right-hander that has had a lot of success both for his college team and playing in the Prospect League,” said Mallards Manager Greg Labbe. \u00a0“I know a lot of people talk about the number of power arms that have been in the league the past few years, and Mark definitely falls into that category. \u00a0He has shown in the past to be able to go deep into games and maintain velocity in the low 90’s. \u00a0He should compete for the number one spot in the rotation.”<\/p>\n
Sappington played for the Hannibal Cavemen of the Prospect League in the summers of 2010 and 2011. In two seasons he had a 10-4 record and 3.02 ERA and was named to the Prospect League All-Star Game each season.<\/p>\n
Sappington attended Raymore-Peculiar High School where he was a four year letter winner. \u00a0He was named First-Team All-Conference and All-District in 2009 and Second-Team All-Conference in 2008. \u00a0He was named the MVP of the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Game. \u00a0He is majoring in business administration at Rockhurst.<\/p>\n
Smith, a 6’1″, 205 pound catcher from Valdosta, Georgia will join the Mallards after his first season with the Wolves. \u00a0So far in 2012, he is batting .381 with 21 RBIs. \u00a0He has played in 35 games including 34 starts. \u00a0He also has a .995 fielder percentage. \u00a0He spent 2011 at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tennessee. \u00a0He hit .291 with three home runs and 27 RBIs. \u00a0In 2010 he was at Valdosta State University where he played in 18 games and started seven. \u00a0He finished with a .267 batting average and did not make an error behind the plate.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think that there is a position more important to the success of any team at any level than their catcher,” said Labbe. \u00a0“Having a guy behind the plate that has caught a lot of games in college was important when putting the roster together and Galen was exactly what I was looking for. \u00a0he is a very physical guy that can catch multiple days in a row and still contribute offensively.”<\/p>\n
Smith attended Valdosta High School where as a junior in 2008 he hit .333 with 12 RBIs and had an on-base percentage of .458. \u00a0He was a First-Team All-Region selection.<\/p>\n
The Mallards will host their season opener against the Battle Creek Bombers on May 30th at 7:05 pm at the “Duck Pond.” \u00a07-Game Packs, season, and group tickets are on sale now! \u00a0Single-game tickets go on sale April 28th.<\/p>\n
The Madison Mallards are part of the 16-team Northwoods League. \u00a0The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madison, WI – April 17, 2012. \u00a0the Mallards have announced the signing of junior right-handed pitcher Mark Sappington from Rockhurst […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-news"],"yoast_head":"\n