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2024 La Crosse Loggers Baseball There ’ s No Place Like Copeland
2023 In the best two of three first rounds it was St . Cloud over Willmar , La Crosse over Eau Claire , Traverse City over Kalamazoo and Green Bay over Madison . Following , in the one game elimination semi-finals , it was St . Cloud knocking off La Crosse in a thrilling 9-8 battle and a 15-14 marathon won by Green Bay at Traverse City . After a day off for travel Green Bay arrived in St . Cloud with Pitcher of the Year , Brett Sanchez ( Belhaven University ) taking the hill for the Rockers and showing everyone the stuff that made him Northwoods League Pitcher of the Year as the Green Bay Rockers won the Championship in a great 4-3 battle . Sanchez went 6-2 on the season with 73 strikeouts in 61.1 innings , walking only 10 batters .
There were some other great and historic performances on the field as Michael Hallquist ( Minnesota-Crookston ), of the Duluth Huskies won MVP honors hitting . 355 with 15 home runs and 65 RBIs on the season . Brendan Bobo ( Cal-State Fullerton ), returned for his second season in Wisconsin Rapids and hit 13 more home runs to go with the 17 he hit in 2022 , setting the All-Time Career Record for Home Runs by a Northwoods League player . He broke former MLB All-Star Jay Gibbons ( Cal-State Los Angeles ) record of 28 achieved in 1997 .
Two High School Seniors made serious impressions prior to their college debuts as Rochester Honker Petey Craska , who is headed to Georgia Tech , hit 10 Home Runs and Cal Fisher who played for the Madison Mallards and is headed for Florida State made the Northwoods League Post-Season All-Star squad .
In the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft , the Northwoods League had 90 players taken including 5 First- Round choices and 60 current players and alums taken in the first 10 Rounds .
Jacob Wilson , a former Mankato MoonDog shortstop was taken with the 6th Overall pick in the Draft , the second highest pick in NWL history following Tony Sanchez a former Boston College and Battle Creek catcher taken with the 4th Overall pick in the 2006 Draft . The League had 27 former players make their MLB Debut for a total of 116 alums that played in MLB in 2023 . The League has now had 340 players enter Major League Baseball .
Continuing its leadership in leveraging technology at this level of baseball , the Northwoods League joined MLB as one of the first Leagues to utilize the Pitch Clock as this innovation helped shorten games and enhance the fan experience , both in person and when viewing on television or devices .
Following the season , the Northwoods League welcomed the Badlands Big Sticks from the Independence League and Dickinson , ND and the Royal Oak Leprechauns from the Great Lakes League and Royal Oak , MI . The Northwoods League will play with 26 teams in 2024 , covering three time-zones as the expansion continues the growth of North America ’ s largest Baseball League .
In another historical announcement , the Northwoods League rebranded and introduced the first for-profit Summer- Collegiate Women ’ s Softball League that will begin play in the summer of 2024 .
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