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.
Wisconsin Woodchucks 3 @ Madison Mallards 4
Game Date: Saturday August 7th, 2021
| Final/9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodchucks | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
| Mallards | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 4 | 8 | 2 |
W: Vomhof (2-2, 2.45 ERA) L: Wahl (0-1, 0.00 ERA) SV: Lancour (5)
| Woodchucks | AB | R | H | RBI | YTD AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bessard, Chase 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| – Catalano, Anthony 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .221 |
| Kilpatrick, Kevin CF | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .323 |
| Sepede, Ryan LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .328 |
| McCabe, Ben 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .203 |
| Watkins, Brock DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .167 |
| Simmons, Aaron RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .429 |
| Mehlbauer, Clayton SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .239 |
| Vincent, Colton C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .171 |
| Valdez, Antonio 2B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .165 |
| 34 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Mallards | AB | R | H | RBI | YTD AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuhrman, Michael SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .271 |
| Moreno, Liam 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .233 |
| Benson, JT CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .280 |
| Shellenbarger, Bryant RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .315 |
| Smith, Zach DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 |
| Dean, Tyler 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 |
| Caron, Josh C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .321 |
| Hauser, Joe 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .211 |
| Scannell, Matt LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .207 |
| 32 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
Wisconsin Woodchucks
2B: B. McCabe 1 (4);
HR: C. Mehlbauer 1 (4);
RBI: C. Mehlbauer 1 (18); C. Bessard 1 (5); B. McCabe 1 (11);
HBP: A. Valdez 1 (3);
SB: R. Sepede 1 (5); K. Kilpatrick 1 (12);
CS: R. Sepede 1 (1);
E: C. Bessard 2 (2); A. Catalano 1 (15);
Team LOB: 7;
Madison Mallards
2B: M. Scannell 1 (3);
3B: B. Shellenbarger 1 (3);
RBI: J. Caron 1 (8); B. Shellenbarger 1 (39); L. Moreno 2 (4);
HBP: M. Fuhrman 1 (5); L. Moreno 1 (1); J. Caron 1 (1);
E: J. Caron 1 (1); M. Scannell 1 (4);
Team LOB: 11;
| Woodchucks | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | YTD ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denton, Cade | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4.18 |
| – Wahl, Tommy | 2.0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 8.0 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Mallards | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | YTD ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medlin, Justin | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1.72 |
| – Vomhof, Sam | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.45 |
| – Lancour, Kade | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.39 |
| 9.0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 1 |
Wisconsin Woodchucks
HB: C. Denton 3 (8);
SO: C. Denton 7 (13);
BB: C. Denton 2 (8); T. Wahl 1 (2);
BF: C. Denton 26 (112); T. Wahl 13 (18);
P-S: C. Denton 101-70; T. Wahl 45-26;
Madison Mallards
WP: J. Medlin 1 (2); S. Vomhof 1 (1);
HB: S. Vomhof 1 (1);
SO: J. Medlin 10 (39); S. Vomhof 7 (32); K. Lancour 1 (23);
BB: J. Medlin 1 (9); S. Vomhof 1 (5);
BF: J. Medlin 24 (124); S. Vomhof 10 (106); K. Lancour 3 (120);
P-S: J. Medlin 88-59; S. Vomhof 46-27; K. Lancour 10-8;
Umpires: Plate: S. Kim 1B: J. Osborne 3B: P. Swartz
Weather: Thunderstorms
Start time: 6:35 pm (Central)
Duration: 02:50:56
Attendance: 6006
Venue: Warner Park
