A record crowd of 2,087 showed up at Joannes Stadium in Green Bay on Wednesday night but however they werent able to see their hometown team the Green Bay Bullfrogs beat the Waterloo Bucks, as the Bucks won 8 to 4. James Jones went 3 for 4 with a double and a home run and his teammate Mike Rogers tripled twice and drove in 3 runs.
Troy Frazier had a night to remember on Monday as he tied the game with a home run in the 9th inning and and won the game on a 2 run home run in the 11th inning to lift the Wisconsin Woodchucks over the Madison Mallards 5 to 3 in 11 innings. Brad Riddle improved to 3 and 3 with the win in relief and Brant Combs got the loss for the Mallards.
On a beautiful weekend in Alexandria, the Wisconsin Woodchucks ran into the Alexandria Beetles who were riding a 4 game winning streak and by the weekends end, it was a 6 game winning streak. The Beetles, on Saturday night beat the Woodchucks 10 to 3 as the Woodchucks had 4 errors and the Beetles had 12 basehits. On Sunday, the Beetles and Woodchucks had a slugfest as the Woodchucks outhomered the Beetles 5 to 0 but Alexandria had 14 hits which lead them to an 11 to 8 victory.
Matt Gantner hit a single in the bottom of the 9th on Friday night to lift the Wisconsin Woodchucks over the Eau Claire Express beating them 5 to 4. Rob Currie got his league leading 8th win in relief and put the Woodchucks in first place of the South division.
Earlier in the season I interviewed Alexandria Beetles Field Manager Erik Maas alongside with Eau Claire Express Field Manager Dale Varsho. In addition to their on field duties they are both full-time employees of their respective teams and play a major role in the overall operation of their franchise. We talk about their unique opportunity and their relationship with one another. View that video and more from the link below.
The Duluth Huskies played in front of the 2nd largest crowd in Duluth Huskies history on Saturday night when 4,203 fans showed up for “Strike Out Breast Cancer Night featuring a Ladies Night Diamond Dig.” The Huskies lost the game to the MoonDogs 3-1.
William Hung, American Idol castoff from about four years ago, brought in big crowds in three Northwoods League ballparks this week. Mankato drew 1,331 on Wednesday, St. Cloud had 2,193 on Friday, and Madison was just short of the fire marshall’s capacity with 7,464 on Saturday.
St. Cloud River Bats Vice President Ryan Voz had high praises for the promotion. “It’s hard to say for sure but having William Hung sing a couple songs might be the best promotion in Northwoods League history. Every team in the league that hasn’t had him should bring him in next year.”
Hung is known most for his rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs”. He also sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Achy Breaky Heart” when he was in St. Cloud. Video of his performance in Mankato will be posted to NorthwoodsLeague.tv soon.
Well, I’m off to Eau Claire for today’s Express vs. Bombers game. I’ll be heading to Wausau, Duluth, and Thunder Bay later in the week, and Madison and Battle Creek before season’s end. I still owe everyone a few ballpark reviews. You’ll get those as I continue my travels. In the meantime, since I was neglecting the blog, I want to thank NWL South Division photographer Ricky Bassman for adding some content. He lives near Wausau so often the photos are Woodchuck intensive but it’s still nice to see some quality photos on the blog.
Curt Carstensen
Director of Operations
Northwoods League
The La Crosse Loggers completed a two game sweep of the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Wednesday night beating them 4 to 2. Loggers ace Aaron Dott only gave up 3 hits and 1 run in 6 innings, which was enough for the Loggers to complete the sweep. PJ Polk had a 2 run home run for the Loggers and Brent Weaver had 2 RBI for the Woodchucks as they were the offensive leaders on this night. Jim Gantner and Matt Gantner were thrown out arguing balls and strikes in the 9th inning which showed how this two game series went for the Woodchucks as they only had 7 hits combined in the two games.
Cole Green from the La Crosse Loggers pitched a great game on Tuesday night in Athletic Park as he went 7 and 2/3 giving up 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 6 while both Derek Melton and Justin Toole scored 2 runs each as the Loggers beat the Wisconsin Woodchucks 5 to 1 in front of the 6th largest Athetlic Park crowd, 3740 . Newcomer Jake Waddle for the Woodchucks picked up the lone run for the Woodchucks in the bottom of the 5th inning.
One of the most noteable promotions that’s happening in the Northwoods League this season takes place in three different cities later this week. William Hung, known for his rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” a few seasons ago on American Idol, will be performing in Mankato on Wednesday, St. Cloud on Friday, and Madison on Saturday. Each team has a slightly different plan for what exactly he’ll be doing at the park during his appearance but you can bet that he’ll sing “She Bangs” and sign some autographs during all three games.
Mankato was excited to announce that they drew 1,326 fans to the ballpark yesterday. That was the largest attendance for a day game in MoonDogs history.
Rise and shine tomorrow in Battle Creek. The Bombers will host the Green Bay Bullfrogs for an 11:oo AM game as a part of a camp day promotion.
You’ll notice some new video on the NorthwoodsLeague.com homepage. Four Northwoods League advertisement spots aired during the All-Star Game broadcast on ESPNU last week and you can now view them on the website. The spots were recorded and edited by photo journalist George Sirbasku.
The Wisconsin Woodchucks came back from a 4 to 1 deficit in the 8th inning, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to defeat the St.Cloud River Bats 5 to 4 at Athletic Park in Wausau on Monday night. Rob Currie pitched 4 innings in relief for the Woodchucks and got his league leading 7th win and Aaron Varnum picked up his 10th save of the year. St.Cloud had RBIs from Mark Canha, Derek McCallum and Stephen Cochrane. Andy Suiter got the start for the River Bats and went 6 innings, only giving up 2 hits and 1 ER while striking out 6.
