SMH logo by @20_range MM logo from @cephasjames pack...
We welcome the Mallards, who are sitting on a healthy 14-10 record, to Kingfisher Stadium in another European Division match-up.
Game 1
SP - Giobbe Marinello
Madrid’s 26 year old Frenchman Michel Clerc - 3rd pick in the 2054 draft and one of the league’s rare two-way players - put in a great game on the mound. He yielded no runs in his six innings, notching up five strikeouts. He also hit 1 for 3, and gained two walks behind the plate. It was the Mallards’ two-run second inning that proved enough to squash the Hares, who didn’t manage a single run all game, as the offence faltered and they lost the game 3-0.
Player of the Game: Michel Clerc (Madrid Mallards)
Game 2
SP - Rafael Guzman
The Mallards are rolling, and in a cloudy day at Kingfisher stadium they rolled right over the Hares again, this time thanks to a veritable feast of doubles and triples. Pang Liu led the batting charge, going 3-6 with a home-run, two singles and 2 RBIs, the Chinese second baseman has been solid for the Mallards ever since he arrived from the Cordoba Silversmiths in 2053, notching up an all-star appearance in 2054. The majority of the Hares’ batting line-up did get a hit, and bin Jameel going 3 for 5 was particularly promising. Koehler’s sailing home-run in the bottom of the ninth was the team’s highlight, but it was too little too late as the Hares succumbed to another defeat, 8-4.
Player of the Game: Pang Liu (Madrid Mallards)
Game 3
SP - Alois Herzog
You don’t win games giving up 11 runs, and indeed the Hares failed to do so even with their strongest offensive display of the series. Things were tied at an entertaining 6-6 going into the 9th, when Filipino Nestor Barrios put the exclamation point on an awful game for the Hares’ bull-pen, giving up 5 runs leading to the Hares losing the game 11-6. The Mallards had some pretty great batting across the board, but Indian Shyamal Mittur was the highlight, going 2 for 4 with a home-run and a walk and 3 RBIs. Mitch Cooper hit a 3-run home run in the 4th on his debut for the Hares, but in the end we were comfortably swept in the series.
Player of the Game - Shyamal Hittur (Madrid Mallards)
The Mountain Hares are left 12-15, and sit in 12th place in the European Division. The Mallards improve to a very solid 17-10, and rocket their way to 3rd place in the division. We're back at Kingfisher park next to take on the Shenzhen Peanuts, who currently sit 12th in the Central and East Asia Division.