By: Ryan Hill \u2014 Public Relations<\/p>\n
Madison, WI \u2014 August 13, 2013. Kyle Ruchim’s (Northwestern) first two home runs in a Mallards uniform are going to be ones he will remember for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n
With the Mallards down 7-6 with two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Ruchim blasted a 2-0 offering from Chinooks reliever Mitchell Sewald (LSU) into the left field suites for a three-run home run. After the Mallards had already put up three more insurance runs just one inning later, the the 5’10,” 185-pound sophomore hit a two-run shot to almost the exact same spot to give the Mallards an insurmountable 14-8 lead that would end up being the final score.<\/p>\n
Danny Sullivan (Davenport) relieved Ben Neumann (Northern Illinois) in the eighth after Mike Papi (Virginia) hit an RBI single to pull the Chinooks within one at 9-8, but Sullivan buckled down and got Aaron Machbitz (South Dakota St.) swinging on four pitches. Sullivan walked one batter in the ninth but struck out the side to allow the Mallards to head back to Mequon, Wisconsin tomorrow for the final game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm.<\/p>\n
The Mallards raced out to a 4-1 lead after just one inning on the night, but the Chinooks roared back and scored one in the third and five more in the fourth. The Mallards pulled back within one in the bottom of the fourth on RBIs from Drew Weeks (North Florida) and Mike Fitzgerald (Indiana State).<\/p>\n
There would be all zeros on the scoreboard from the fourth on until Ruchim’s blast that sent the 2,441 fans at the “Duck Pond” into a frenzy in the seventh. Sam Forkert (Marian) got the win for the Mallards and pitched four innings while allowing two runs (both earned) on six hits. Sewald was tagged with the loss and allowed four runs (two earned) on two hits in 1.1 innings of work.<\/p>\n
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