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Published On: August 8th, 2021

WOODCHUCKS SLIP LATE IN RAINY MADISON

August 8th, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jake Herman, Radio Broadcasting & Media Relations Intern

Contact: Austin Pert, Public Relations Intern (radio@woodchucks.com)

Mallards Use Late Rally to Beat Woodchucks After Rain Delay

MADISON, WI – In a game which hung in the balance throughout, the Wisconsin Woodchucks (41-24) came up short by a score of 4-3 in Madison Saturday night.

After the 11th meeting of the season between the Woodchucks and the Mallards (33-30) was delayed for over two hours due to rain, no team led by more than one run all night. The Mallards now sit 2.5 games behind the first-place Chucks in the second-half standings with one week left in the season.

Cade Denton tossed six innings of two-run ball in a no-decision. He allowed only three hits, striking out a season-high seven batters and inducing a pair of inning-ending double plays.

Clayton Mehlbauer hit his fourth homer of the season, a solo blast to right-center in the top of the third inning which knotted the score at one apiece.

Antonio Valdez walked and scored on a hit-and-run by Chase Bessard, putting the visitors ahead 2-1 later in the inning.

But Madison responded to tie the game at two after a leadoff double and sacrifice fly. The score remained tied throughout the middle of the game as each team stranded several baserunners.

The Woodchucks struck out a total of 18 times, a season-high mark on a night when the slick infield posed problems for defenders on both sides.

Kevin Kilpatrick reached on a dropped third strike in the eighth and stole second. Later in the inning, Ben McCabe’s fly ball to left broke the tie and put the Woodchucks back in front.

But after the Chucks stranded McCabe and Ryan Sepede in scoring position, the Mallards bounced back in the bottom of the inning. A pair of base hits, a walk and an error plated the winning runs in a game that ended after 11:30 p.m.

Reliever Tommy Wahl took the loss after allowing the unearned runs. The Mallards now lead the season series 6-5 and draw one game closer in the division standings.

The defeat sets up a pivotal matchup tomorrow afternoon, determining whether the Mallards can get within 1.5 games of the Woodchucks in pursuit of the second playoff spot in the Great Lakes West.

Up Next

The Chucks will finish this series and their season series against the Mallards tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. They’ll return home on Monday to begin a two-game series against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.

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The Wisconsin Woodchucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 27-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.woodchucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Woodchucks as your favorite team.