Northwoods Madison Mallards

Offensive Outburst Propels Mallards Over Loggers

Published on June 5, 2011 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Madison Mallards News Release


LA CROSSE, WI - Through the first three games of the 2011 Northwoods League season, the Madison Mallards won behind masterful performances from their pitchers. Saturday night was the exact opposite, as the Ducks crossed home a season-high fourteen times on fourteen hits, defeating the La Crosse Loggers 14-2 in front of 3,837 fans at Copeland Park. The win moves the Mallards to 4-0 on the young season, and the Loggers fall to 1-3 with their home-opening loss.

The game was never really close from the get-go. Madison scored five runs in the first inning on only three hits, chasing Loggers' starter Drew Ghelfi (Iowa Central Community College) after one-third of an inning pitched. The Ducks went on to score runs in the second, third, fifth, sixth, and ninth innings as well. Ghelfi (0-1) was succeeded by Brandon Bixler (Florida Gulf Coast), Bobby Juan (Minnesota), and Zach Miller (Sacramento Community College).

Whenever a team scores a bunch of runs, a few guys usually stand out in a multitude of offensive categories. The Mallards were no different on this night.

Standing out the most was left fielder Jay Golden (Blackhawk Community College). Golden was 3-5 at the plate with two doubles, two runs batted in, and four runs scored batting out of the number two spot in the lineup.

"I was able to see the ball well tonight," said Golden. "Coach Labbe and I worked on a few mechanics in my batting stance. Just some minor changes, but they seemed to pay off big time."

Other Mallards' batters with multiple hits included Niko Fraser (Elon), Tyler Jones (Long Island), and Michael Handel (Minnesota). Andrew Barna (Davidson) and Nate Theunissen (Central Michigan) both went deep for the Ducks with solo shots in the fifth and sixth innings respectively. Mike McQuillan (Iowa), the league's leading hitter going into Saturday's contest, had two RBI.

"This was just one of those nights where everything went our way," said field manager Greg Labbe. "We worked the count at the plate and saw a lot of good pitches. This was a clean game for us and just fun to be a part of."

Even though offense was the focal point for the Mallards, the pitching staff again did a great job, allowing only the two runs. Starter Ryan Bores (Cuyahoga Community College) was very strong, going six innings, giving up both runs on only five hits. Bores (1-0) was the first pitcher on the season to stay true to the team's "pitching for contact" strategy, only tallying two strikeouts.

"Pitching goes unnoticed on a game like this one, but the guys were consistent again. It's easy to lose sight of the task at hand with a double-digit lead, but we did the job," Labbe said.

The Mallards' bullpen came in for three scoreless innings. Nick Sutherland (Minnesota State - Mankato) pitched two innings in relief, and Travis Parker (St. Louis) came in for a fifteen-pitch ninth inning to secure the win.

Dex Kjerstad (Texas) was the most productive Logger offensively. The Longhorn outfielder out of Amarillo went 2-4 with a double. No other La Crosse hitter tallied more than one hit in the game.

"This was a fun game to be a Mallard," said Golden. "You learn a lot about the guys after being here for only a few days and we were relaxed out there. It's an awesome feeling when you put up fourteen runs on a team."

Defense was also solid, committing no errors for the first time in a game this season.

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Northwoods League Stories from June 5, 2011


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