Wisconsin Rapids, WI –June 20, 2010. Harold Riggins (NC State) hit an opposite field home-run in the top of the sixth to help the Mallards beat the Rafters 8-2 in front of 1,640 fans at Witter Field on Sunday afternoon.

The win gives the Mallards (8-8) their first-ever series win over the Rafters (5-11). The offense exploded once again as they produced eight runs on twelve hits. That’s now six straight games with ten or more hits for the Mallards’ offense.

Mallards’ starter Rusty Shellhorn (Washington St.) worked seven innings to pick up the win and improve his record to 1-1 on the year. The lefty allowed one run on five Rafters hits.

Chris Green (NW Missouri St.) is tagged with the loss after giving up five runs on six hits through five innings.

All was scoreless until the top of third when Kyle Gaedele (Valparaiso) smoked a two-out double off the right-outfield wall to score Brent Warren (Oregon St.) who had reached earlier on a bunt-infield single.

Gaedele’s hit in the third extends his hitting streak to nine games. He would go on to finish the night 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.

The Rafters really ran into trouble in the sixth, an inning that saw twelve Mallards come up to the plate. It all started with a Riggins three-run opposite field blast to put the Mallards up 4-0.

The home-run is Riggins’ first of the year in only his second game this season. It also extends his Mallards’ career home-run record to ten.

Later in the sixth, Jacob Esch (Georgia Tech) hit an RBI groundout followed by a Ryan Gorton (Oregon St.) and Gaedele RBI singles to extend the Mallards lead to 7-0. Next up, Riggins came to the plate for the second time in the inning; this time drawing an RBI walk with the bases loaded.

Riggins finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBI.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rafters finally reached the scoreboard on a Matt Johnson (Cal Baptist) sacrifice fly to score Garrett Branske (Cal State Bakersfield).

Despite the Mallards’ success on the offensive side, the team committed five errors on defense. A Ross Heffley (Western Carolina) error in the eighth led to a Justin Jirschele (UW-Stevens Point) run to make the final score 8-2. Of the five errors, three of them were by Mallards’ pitchers, including two from Patrick Lala (Kirkwood CC) who pitched the final two innings of today’s game.

On Monday, the Mallards will come back to the “Duck Pond” for a two-game set with the Waterloo Bucks. Both games are set for 7:05 p.m with the gates opening at 5:30 p.m.

-Madison Mallards-