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 Madison, WI – July 14, 2008. The Northwoods League
South Division All-Stars broke a three-year All-Star Game
losing streak with an 8-4 victory of the North Division
All-Stars in Madison, WI. Cory Vaughn (La Crosse, San Diego
State) was named All-Star Game MVP with his 2-for-3
performance and one RBI and one run scored. A new All-Star
Game record crowd of 5,357 fans came out to the “Duck Pond”
for the midseason showcase. Every player on each All-Star team
made an appearance in the game.
Vaughn, Josh Prince
(Green Bay, Tulane) and Rob Lyerly (Madison, Charlotte) all
had two hits for the victorious South Division squad. One of
Prince’s hits was a two-run home run that he blasted over the
left field fence on a 3-0 pitch off Phil Haig (Rochester,
Illinois). The North Division was paced by Brian Hernandez’
(St. Cloud, College of the Canyons) 2-for-2 night and two RBIs
from Josh Upchurch (Alexandria, Florida Gulf Coast). Chris
Sale (La Crosse, Florida Gulf Coast) earned the win for the
South Division, while Alex Kalogrides (Brainerd, San
Francisco) took the loss.
South Division’s Matt Jansen
(Madison, Purdue) took the mound to start things off in front
of his home crowd. Jansen did not disappoint the Mallards
faithful, striking out the side in the top of the first while
throwing 20 pitches.
After Jansen’s masterful work
through the North Division lineup the South Division took
their first at bats and put two on the scoreboard, thanks to
an RBI double by Vaughn and a run-scoring single by Lyerly
that brought around Vaughn.
The familiar All-Star Game
defensive changes began in the second inning. Kyle Gumieny
(Wisconsin, Lamar CC) moved to the mound in place of Jansen
and promptly gave up a leadoff home run to Eric Stephens
(Rochester, Cal State Fullerton) to cut the South Division’s
lead in half. Gumieny was able to get an out before giving up
three straight base hits and a walk to give the North a 3-2
advantage after one-and-a-half.
The North Division also
made a pitching change in the second inning, bringing in Nate
Woods (Thunder Bay, Belmont). After Jeff Cowan (Wisconsin,
High Point) reached on an error, Troy Frazier (Wisconsin,
Kentucky) grounded into a tailor-made double play and Rocky
Gale (Green Bay, Portland) grounded out to second to end the
inning and keep the lead intact.
Neither team could
push a run across in the third inning. In the bottom of the
fourth the South Division scored two runs to retake the lead
4-3. Kalogrides moved to the mound to start the frame and gave
up a leadoff single to Lyerly. He then hit Joey Register
(Waterloo, Texas A&M) with a 1-0 pitch to put runners on
first and second with nobody outs. Cowan then drew a walk,
loading the bases still with nobody out. Frazier then tied the
game with a single, scoring Lyerly. The catcher Gale stepped
to the plate and grounded into a fielder’s choice force-out at
third, scoring Register to get the lead back.
The fifth
and sixth went by with little fanfare with another two-run
frame for the South Division coming in the bottom of the
sixth, making the score 6-3 in favor of the boys in green. The
scoring in pairs continued for the South in the bottom of the
seventh, as Nick O’Shea (Green Bay, Minnesota) doubled and
later scored on a Register single. The junior came around on a
P.J. Polk (La Crosse, Tennessee) two-bagger.
The North
Division added their final tally of the night in the top of
the eighth, when Derek McCallum (St. Cloud, Minnesota) hit a
sacrifice fly to left that scored Mike O’Neill (Thunder Bay,
Southern California) from third.
That was all the
scoring for the night, and the South Division emerged on top
8-4. Tuesday is a league off-day as the All-Star Break
concludes, and the Mallards will be back at home Wednesday
night for a showdown with Alexandria at 7:05. It is
Rayovac/Remington Mini Millie Bobblehead Night (first 2,500
fans)! The Mallards swept two from the Beetles last week in
Alexandria.
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