By: Michael Schroeder


Mallards force decisive game three with 4-3 victory over Thunder Bay in game twoThunder Bay, Ontario, Canada – August 16, 2008.

The Madison Mallards defeated the Thunder Bay Border Cats in dramatic fashion 4-3 Saturday night in game two of the Northwoods League Championship Series at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The win forces a decisive winner-take-all game three in the championship series Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. (CST) from Thunder Bay. The Mallards held a 4-1 lead after four-and-a-half thanks to Joe Yermal’s (Charlotte) solid start on the mound, and three relievers hung on to preserve the one-run victory. Yermal earned the win with five innings of four-hit baseball, and Danny Rosenbaum took the loss for the Border Cats.

Brandon Wikoff (Illinois) had two hits for the Mallards, and Joe Bonadonna (Illinois) scored two of the team’s four runs on the night. Jon Kelton hit a pair of home runs off Yermal to give the Border Cats some early runs, and Josh Ashenbrenner was 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Thunder Bay scored first in the bottom of the first, when Kelton homered to right field with one out. The Mallards went down quietly in the first couple of innings and scored two runs in the top of the third off Rosenbaum to take a 2-1 lead. Rob Lyerly (Charlotte) reached on a costly dropped ball in left field by Kelton that allowed Don Lambert (Baylor) to score from third. Josh Groves (UW-Milwaukee) added an RBI single two batters later for the second run of the inning.

In the top of the fifth the Mallards added two more on two hits to make the score 4-1. Kelton hit his second home run to lead off the sixth inning and after a walk to Derek Wiley, Yermal was relieved by Nathan Kafka (Minnesota State), who got the final three outs to retire the Border Cats in the sixth.

Kyle Heim (Iowa) relieved Kafka with one out in the seventh and got a popout to the catcher and a strikeout to leave two Border Cats runners on base.

The Mallards went down 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth, and the Mallards held on to a 4-2 lead after seven-and-a-half. Heim got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth, but gave up a single, a wild pitch and a walk to put runners on first and second with two outs. Andy Deain (Northern Illinois) entered the game in place of Heim, and gave up an RBI single to Ryan Terry that scored Ashenbrenner from second base to trim the Mallards lead to a slim 4-3. However, Deain put out the first with a strikeout looking to send the game to the ninth.

Madison got a pair of two-out baserunners, but Phil Gosselin (Virginia) struck out swinging to end the inning. The ninth inning brought plenty of drama, as Mike O’Neill flew out to center field before Kelton walked. Deain and Eric Nielsen (Purdue) ran into some trouble connecting on pitches, as Kelton moved to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Wiley then drove a ball to deep left field, which looked like a walk-off, championship-winning, two-run home run, but the ball landed foul and Deain got Wiley to strike out swinging for the second out. The right-hander from Northern Illinois then struck out Nate Woods to end the game and force a game three Sunday night.

First pitch on Sunday is set for 6:05 p.m. (CST) from Thunder Bay. Alex Rivers (Santa Clara) will start on the mound for the Mallards against Border Cats right-hander Michael Raymond.

Rog wrote:The Madison Mallards play the Thunder Bay Border Cats for
the Northwoods League Championship; tonight.
You can listen here. The game starts at 6:05.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Rog wrote:The Madison Mallards play the Thunder Bay Border Cats for
the Northwoods League Championship; tonight.
You can listen here. The game starts at 6:05.

Rog,

I can't access the broadcast.

I had a conversation with another Wisconsinite earlier today about the Northwoods League.

God, I'm really tired!

By: Michael Schroeder


Mallards see late lead, championship evaporate, fall 6-5 to Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada – August 17, 2008. The Madison Mallards fell to the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the third and final game of the 2008 Northwoods League Championship Series Sunday night in heartbreaking fashion, 6-5, as the Mallards saw a late two-run lead evaporate when the Border Cats scored three in the bottom of the eighth. The Mallards took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth, but the Border Cats scored three runs off Matt Jansen (Purdue) on one hit and a pair of errors to win their first championship since 2005. Jansen ended up taking the loss, and the win went to Border Cats reliever Brett Holland. Jimmy Stanley pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the series. All three of the games in the championship series were decided by just one run.

The Mallards got three hits and two runs scored from Brandon Wikoff (Illinois). Rob Lyerly (Charlotte) was 2-for-5 with three runs driven in. Trent Soares (Fresno State) added a pair of hits, including a home run in the eighth inning for the fifth run of the game for the Mallards. Derek Wiley was the star of the game for the Border Cats, going 2-for-5 with three runs driven in. He had the go-ahead run in the decisive eighth inning, a single that drove in Connor Lind.

The Border Cats led 3-1 until the seventh inning, when the Mallards broke through for three runs off Holland to take a 4-3 lead. Eric Nielsen (Purdue) started things off with a single, and with one out Holland loaded the bases on an error and a walk. Lyerly then singled, scoring Nielsen and Joe Bonadonna (Illinois), and tried to advance to second when he caught the pitcher napping at the end of the play. Lyerly was thrown out at second, but Wikoff had the presence of mind to scamper home to give the Mallards the one-run advantage.

Jansen had little trouble with the Border Cats in the bottom half of that inning, and the Mallards held the 4-3 lead entering the eighth. Soares added an insurance run with a home run to left-center to make the score 5-3.

But Thunder Bay battled all the way back off Jansen and reliever Kyle Heim (Iowa) to wrap up the championship on their home field. Stanley got two quick outs in the ninth before Wikoff singled, but Lyerly could not drive him in and flew out to center field to end the game.

The Madison Mallards will host the third annual MLB Alumni Game on August 23 at 6:05 p.m. at the “Duck Pond.” Headlining the event is Chicago Cub Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, a three-time All-Star and winner of the 1971 Cy Young Award. Jenkins, along with a host of other former big league stars (listed below) will play a 7-inning game against former Mallards, including Mike Springsteen (2001), D.J. Roshone (2003-04), and Jordan Comadena (2005-07).