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2024 La Crosse Loggers Baseball There ’ s No Place Like Copeland
straight games in June , to snap the mark of 14 set by the 1998 St . Cloud River Bats . Amazingly , that record didn ’ t even hold for a season , as the Madison Mallards strung together 16 straight wins late in the year in their failed pursuit of the Eau Claire Express who won their first division championship . Both Eau Claire and the North Division ’ s Duluth Huskies were steamrolled in consecutive playoff games by an emotional St . Cloud River Bats team who swept their way to a third League Championship . St . Cloud ’ s triumph came nine days after the death of 19 year old pitcher Richie Gargel ( Temple ) who suffered fatal injuries in a swimming accident . St . Cloud ’ s season began with a stadium change , the first such instance in League history . The River Bats moved across the parking lot from their ten-year home of Dick Putz Field to their new home , the upgraded Joe Faber Field . This park , and the other 13 League-wide , combined to set another League record with more than 854,000 fans watching NWL action in 2007 . The League was again paced by Madison , which topped 200,000 fans for the second straight season and the one-million mark overall in their seventh year . Eight teams set their own single-game attendance record on a given night during the ‘ 07 season . The Mankato Moon Dogs were one of those teams , who in addition had an ever larger crowd of 2,319 when they hosted the annual Northwoods League All-Star Game on July 11th . The record crowd saw local favorite and Moon Dog third baseman Nate Hanson get the game-winning hit and earned the “ Star of Stars ” game MVP honor . Hanson wen to on to earn even more hardware by winning the batting title with a . 363 average , the Rawlings Defensive Player of the Year at third base , and a new Northwoods League award , the Rawlings Offensive Player of the Year that was issued to the top hitter at each position . The League MVP award was shared for the first time as Eau Claire outfielder / closer Kole Calhoun and Green Bay outfielder Daniel Robertson received Co-MVP honors . Robertson and Duluth second baseman Joe Bonadonna share a new League record having both stolen 45 bases in the 2007 season . The entire NWL was showcased to a nationally televised audience for the first time with coverage provided by ESPNU . In the meantime , NWL Alumni were advancing their careers with nine more players making their Major League debut to bring the League total to 44 , and a record 120 players getting their named called during the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft .
2008 In 2008 , the Northwoods League celebrated its 15th anniversary season and accomplished some milestones along the way . Many of the milestones were because of great accomplishments by League alumni . In June , 141 current and former NWL players were selected in Major League Baseball ’ s First-Year Player Draft . This number dramatically eclipsed the previous record of 120 set a year earlier . In all , six players that once donned Northwoods League uniforms debuted at the Major League level in 2008 . Max Scherzer ( La Crosse , 2004 ) first appeared for the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 29th . His debut was one of the best debuts in Major League history with the righthanded pitcher entering the game in relief and throwing 4.1 perfect innings while striking out seven . In September when Casey McGehee ( St . Cloud , 2001 ) joined the Chicago Cubs he became the 50th NWL alumnus to appear on a big league roster . Baltimore Orioles closer George Sherrill ( Kenosha , 1997-98 ) became the first NWL alum to appear in a Major League all-star game when he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in July ’ s 15-inning classic . The present day NWL players were seen in a new way in 2008 . The League launched a new website in May , northwoodsleague . tv , which allowed fans from around the world for the first time to watch any game on the NWL schedule live or archived via a video webcast . For the second consecutive year fans from across the country viewed the NWL All-Star Game on ESPNU . The South All-Stars defeated the North 8-4 at Warner Park in Madison , WI on July 11th in front of an all-star game record crowd of 5,357 . Madison set a summer collegiate baseball record totaling 207,949 fans through their gates during the 2008 regular season . Madison ’ s 6,116 and La Crosse ’ s average of 3,319 fans per game represented the two highest averages in all of Summer Collegiate Basesll . Madison and five other NWL franchise ’ s set a team attendance record for per game average . The success stories of some teams in attendance weren ’ t felt by the Northwoods League as a whole . The League took a step back in overall attendance for the first time since 1996 . This happened in part due to arguably the worst year for weather in NWL history . Twenty-four games were rained out and a number more were suspended shortly after starting . The Waterloo Bucks were displaced from Riverfront Stadium for 33 days due to the ballpark flooding in June . They were to play 16 games at Riverfront during that stretch . Instead , two were cancelled and the other 14 were played either on the road or a high school field in Waterloo drawing far fewer fans than they would have under normal circumstances . For the second time in
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