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2025 La Crosse Loggers Baseball There’ s No Place Like Copeland
to a very engaged public, as each viewer watched over 68 minutes per view. The League continued to show two games nightly on ESPN +, accounting for over 1 million Unique Viewers( up 62.8 % from 2023), watching a combination of Baseball and Softball and averaging 6120 Unique Viewers per game. Following recent viewing trends, NWL Softball averaged over 1000 more Unique Viewers per game than NWL Baseball with the Softball Champion, Mankato Habaneros, leading all teams with 7485 Unique Viewers per game on ESPN +.
The Northwoods League All-Star game in Mankato, MN was won by the road team, the Great Lakes Division, 9-2 in front of 2305 fans. Max Galvin( Oklahoma State) of the Wausau Woodchucks was MVP, hitting two doubles in the game. A special Home Run Challenge took place the night before, featuring NWL Baseball and Softball players and was the second most viewed event of the season as viewers watched an average of over 55 minutes per view.
On the field, some outstanding record setting performances led to some very tight sub-divisional races in the Great Plains and Great Lakes Divisions. Andrew Sojka( Cal-State Northridge) led the Wilmar Stingers to the First-Half title of the Great Lakes West by virtue of his 2024 Northwoods League MVP performance. Sojka, a three-year NWL veteran, hit. 398, with 22 Home Runs, 22 Doubles and 43 Stolen Bases in what was one of the finest performances in Summer Collegiate Baseball history. He finished his NWL career with 37 Home Runs, an All-Time NWL record. Maddox Mihalakis( Arizona) led the League in hitting with a. 429 batting average, one of the highest in NWL history. Ryan Kraft( Indiana), a left-handed pitcher for the Kalamazoo Growlers led the Kalamazoo Growlers to the Northwoods League Championship, winning the Great Lakes Championship game at Madison by virtue of his 7-inning, one-hit, 10 strikeout performance. Kraft was voted the Northwoods League Pitcher of the Year and finished with a 6-2 record, 41 hits in 56 1 / 3 innings and 81 strikeouts.
In the Great Plains Division playoffs, it was St. Cloud over Wilmar( 2-1), La Crosse over Duluth( 2-0) and La Crosse over St. Cloud, 8-1, in the Great Plains Championship game. In the Great Lakes it was Madison over Wausau( 2-1), Kalamazoo over Rockford( 2-1) and Kalamazoo over Madison, 3-2, in the Great Lakes Championship game. A rain delayed Northwoods League Championship game in Kalamazoo, MI ended up going 14-innings before the home team Kalamazoo Growlers won their 2nd Championship in three years in an 8-7 thriller.
Corey Thompson and Kelton Caldwell, both of the Wausau Woodchucks won the Northwoods League Manager and Coach of the Year, respectively. The Woodchucks had the best overall record in the Great Lakes West. They finished the season with a 50-19 record and made the Northwoods League playoffs for the first time in a number of years.
The League had 31 alumni make their MLB debut in 2024 and had 119 alums play in MLB, the highest number to date. In the MLB First Year Player Draft, the Northwoods League had its highest draft pick ever as Charlie Condon( Georgia) of the 2022 St. Cloud Rox was the 3rd player overall taken in the MLB Draft. Taken 7th overall was J. J. Wetherholt( West Virginia), a member of the 2022 Madison Mallards
Following the season, Mark Macdonald, owner of the Wausau Woodchucks invested more of his own money into turfing the entire field at Athletic Park in Wausau, WI for the purpose of bringing a Northwoods League Softball team to town in 2025.
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