The Wisconsin Woodchucks have struggled in the first inning this season, but they actually outscored the Madison Mallards in the first on Sunday afternoon. The problem, however, was that the Chucks (9-17) had zero hits after the first, and the Mallards (14-12) hit three home runs to race out to a 9-2 win.

In a game featuring two relief pitchers making their first starts of the year, the Woodchucks got off on the right foot against Davis Moore in the first. Trey Dawson led off with a walk and stole second, and Tristan Clarke followed with a single to put men at the corners with no outs. Moore then issued a wild pitch, allowing Clarke to advance and Dawson to score. Moore then walked Stevie Mangrum and a Jake Matheny passed ball put both men in scoring position with no outs. Dalton Reed bounced out but Clarke came home to make it 2-0 Woodchucks.

They would not score again. In fact, they would not tally another hit. Josh Bottenfield pitched well for a while in his first start of the year, at one point retiring eight in a row before the Mallards got to him in the fourth. With one out, Doran Turchin and Angel Camacho singled, and Jeffrey Mitchell, Jr. brought everyone home with a blast to left field to put Madison ahead 3-2.

Bottenfield came back out for the fifth and the Mallards quickly got back to work. Matheny doubled and Cole Daily brought him home with a single. Daily later scored on a defensive miscue, and Turchin kept the inning going with another single to chase Bottenfield. In came Jackson Owens, and Camacho launched a homer to left field to make it 7-2. Camacho’s run was the first that Owens has surrendered this year.

Owens worked around a pair of errors to toss a scoreless sixth, but the Mallards got back to work in the seventh against Andreas Papageorge when Turchin hit a two-run homer of his own to make it 9-2. Erik Gutierrez threw a scoreless eighth, but the Mallards pitching staff was sensational, combining for just three baserunners against, all on walks, after the first inning, with no hits and no runs allowed.

These two teams will square off again Monday, this time in Wausau. Payton Coffman will make his first start of the year for Wisconsin, with first pitch at Athletic Park scheduled for 6:35 PM.

Game Date: 06/25/2017
Wisconsin Woodchucks 2 AT Madison Mallards 9

YTD YTD
Wisconsin AB R H BI AVG Madison AB R H BI AVG
Dawson, T SS 2 1 0 0 .333 Daily, C SS 4 2 2 1 .367
Rivera, M SS 1 0 0 0 .270 Bunnell, C 2B 4 0 0 0 .263
Clarke, T CF 2 1 1 0 .259 Turchin, D CF 3 3 3 2 .351
Mangrum, S LF 3 0 0 0 .388 Camacho, A 1B 4 2 2 2 .323
Reed, D 1B 4 0 0 1 .159 Mitchell Jr., J RF 4 1 1 3 .289
Nunez, I 2B 3 0 0 0 .243 Smart, T 3B 4 0 0 0 .272
Taylor, Y DH 4 0 0 0 .333 OBrien, K DH 4 0 0 0 .291
Fleischman, C 3B 3 0 0 0 .203 Taylor, Z LF 4 0 0 0 .176
Lindsly, B C 3 0 0 0 .111 Matheny, J C 3 1 1 0 .171
Ryan, N RF 3 0 0 0 .260
28 2 1 1 34 9 9 8

Wisconsin 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 1 3
Madison 0 0 0 3 4 0 2 0 x – 9 9 0
2B–Matheny, J C (1). HR–Turchin, D CF (6), Camacho, A 1B (3), Mitchell
Jr., J RF (3). RBI–Reed, D 1B (8), TOTALS (0), Daily, C SS (13), Turchin,
D CF 2 (26), Camacho, A 1B 2 (18), Mitchell Jr., J RF 3 (24), TOTALS 8
(0). SB–Dawson, T SS (3), Clarke, T CF 2 (11), Daily, C SS (10), Turchin,
D CF (6). CS–Smart, T 3B (2). E–Rivera, M SS 2 (10), Ryan, N RF (3).
LOB–Wisconsin 4, Madison 2.
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Wisconsin
Bottenfield, J (L,1-2) 4.2 6 6 6 1 1 1 6.65
Owens, J 1.1 1 1 1 0 2 1 1.29
Papageorge, A 1.0 2 2 2 0 1 1 4.66
Gutierrez, E 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75
8 9 9 9 1 4 3
Madison
Moore, D 4.0 1 2 2 3 4 0 4.26
Jones, T (W,1-0) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.44
Vazquez, R 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.84
Savino, D 2.0 0 0 0 1 3 0 2.70
9 1 2 2 5 8 0
WP–Bottenfield, J (3), Moore, D (2). PB–Matheny, J. SO–Reed, D 2, Nunez,
I, Taylor, Y 2, Lindsly, B, Ryan, N 2, Mitchell Jr., J, OBrien, K, Taylor,
Z, Matheny, J. BB–Dawson, T, Clarke, T 2, Mangrum, S, Nunez, I, Turchin,
D. BF–Bottenfield, J 21 (109), Owens, J 6 (32), Papageorge, A 5 (44),
Gutierrez, E 3 (37), Moore, D 16 (60), Jones, T 3 (24), Vazquez, R 7 (45),
Savino, D 7 (58). P-S–Bottenfield, J 93-57, Owens, J 21-13, Papageorge, A
18-14, Gutierrez, E 12-9, Moore, D 63-39, Jones, T 6-4, Vazquez, R 30-19,
Savino, D 25-17.
T–2:26. A–6589