With the Milwaukee Brewers stuck in last place in their division, Madison baseball fans craving the thrill of victory could do a lot worse than to pull out that old “Fear the Duck” T-shirt and head to Warner Park.
After opening the season with an impressive 7-1 start, the Madison Mallards hit a rough patch and were 10-11 as of Wednesday — right in the middle of a tight race in the South Division of the Northwoods League. The team did put the skids on a five-game losing streak last week with a much-needed 5-3 victory over the Green Bay Bullfrogs, but then dropped three of four to fall below .500 for the first time all season.
This year’s roster includes college players from all over the country — from Olympia, Wash., to Miami Lakes, Fla. — as well as homegrown talent. Pitcher Nate Hoffmann and shortstop Tony Butler both played on state championship teams at Sun Prairie High School; they’re in their second seasons with the Mallards.
Hoffmann, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University, is 2-0 with a 3.21 earned run average and 11 strikeouts in 14 innings this season. He finished last season for the Mallards with a 4.50 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 36 innings.
Butler, meanwhile, is off to a slow start this season after batting .272 with 16 RBIs in 26 games for the Mallards in 2014. A junior at Madison College, Butler is one of three Mallards currently on the WolfPack’s roster, along with pitcher Westin Wuethrich and catcher Mike Aiello.
Late last week, the Mallards reported that 17 current and former players were selected in Major League Baseball’s 2015 first-year amateur draft.
With talent that attracts this kind of attention at the professional level, the Mallards have established a reputation for consistently fielding solid teams and setting Northwoods League attendance records. There’s still a lot of ball left to play — the regular season continues into early August — which means there’s plenty of time to regroup and start producing more offense. But last weekend, the Mallards were outscored 21-10 in four games. That’s no way to win ballgames.
Just ask the Brewers.
