Justin Nuoffer
The Mallards’ Simon Rosenblum-Larson will play in the NWL All-Star game July 18.
Ah, the height of summer, as Bob Seger once called this lazy, hazy time of the year. Few professional or college sports teams are in action, save the Milwaukee Brewers (in first place at the All-Star break) and the Madison Radicals (also in first place with two games remaining).
That said, the Madison Mallards have 16 home games left on their schedule between July 13 and the regular-season finale on Aug. 13, which gives you plenty of time to check out one of the finest ballparks in the country. That’s right: BallparkDigest.com recently crowned the playing field at Warner Park — better known as the Duck Pond — the “Best Summer Collegiate Ballpark of 2017.”
Almost 30,000 fans voted in the summer collegiate bracket of the Best of the Ballparks 2017 online contest — the most that BallparkDigest.com officials say ever participated in that category. No surprise, really, considering the Mallards consistently attract way more fans than any other team in the Northwoods League and crossed the 111,000 attendance mark earlier this season by averaging more than 6,200 fans per game. By comparison, the La Crosse Loggers (with the second-highest attendance in the league) have drawn 50,400 fans this season and average about 2,650 per game.
Justin Nuoffer
Mallards Cole Daly (left) and Zac Taylor could rouse the team from its slump.
This year, the Mallards also debuted the new and improved four-level Great Dane Duck Blind in right field. Constructed using 37 recycled shipping containers, it features 12 suites and general admission for up to 1,000 fans, plus improved sightlines and more physical seats.
On the field, though, the Mallards have struggled this season, hovering near the middle of the pack in the Northwoods League’s South Division. But it’s not as if this team doesn’t have the talent to make a playoff run, as it did last season before falling to the Battle Creek (Michigan) Bombers in the first round.
Left fielder Zac Taylor, through July 8, was batting .516 over the previous 10 games, with 16 hits and five RBI, while shortstop Cole Daily led the league in hits. Daily, along with centerfielder Doran Turchin and starting pitcher Simon Rosenblum-Larson, who played for West High School, were selected to represent the Mallards in the 2017 NWL All-Star Game on July 18 in Wausau.
Madison also has consistently put five or more runs on the board throughout much of the season’s first half. In this high-scoring league, though, the Mallards will need to quack even louder to make the postseason.
