West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

NORTHWOODS LEAGUE ANNOUNCES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: July 5, 2007

Northwoods League Announces 2007 All-Star Teams

The Northwoods League announced the rosters for the 2007 All-Star Game to be played Wednesday, July 11 in Mankato, Minnesota.   

The host North Division All-Stars will take on their South Division counterparts at Franklin Rogers Park, home to the NWL's Mankato MoonDogs. The two-day extravaganza will conclude with the main event, the 2007 Northwoods League All-Star Game, beginning with the first pitch at 7:05 PM Central on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN360.com and will re-air later that night at 12:30 AM on ESPNU. The replay is scheduled to air again on ESPNU on Friday, July 13 at 8 PM Central.

The La Crosse Loggers will have the most representation with seven of their players being named to the South Division roster. The 2007 First Half Champion St. Cloud River Bats of the North Division placed six players while the First Half Champions in the South, the Green Bay Bullfrogs, had four players selected to the squad. The La Crosse offense has made noise the past two weeks in three games with outbursts of 16 runs or more. Logger outfielders Evan Bigley (Dallas Baptist), Eric Thames (Pepperdine), and Jim Viscomi (Evansville) and second baseman Jesse Hart (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) will help anchor the South offense.

Rochester, the reigning NWL champions, had five players named to the team but only four will have the opportunity to play. Jareck West (Delta State) signed a professional contract with the Oakland Athletics earlier in the week but was selected to the team nevertheless. In his place, St. Cloud’s Matt Fanelli (Washington State) will join teammate Tim Wheeler (Sacramento State) as a member of the North Division outfield.  One player will be making his second all-star appearance, Eau Claire Express LHP Tim Huber (Nebraska-Omaha) also was selected to the 2006 team.

This year's All-Stars were chosen in a vote by the 14 member teams of the Northwoods League. Ballots were cast by each team's field staff, radio and/or media contact.

With just three regular season games remaining and an offense that is scuffling, Nats management has been scouring the free agent market and farm system to find that extra edge to put the team over the top.

"We're not interested in taking on a long-term contract to acquire another club's talent," says Nats manager, Alex Franson.    "We believe we've got a good young base here and we'd like to bring in a presence that will strengthen existing team unity.     Elliott's gotta get it done and not with some gibroni from the MABL."

When asked to comment on Franson's comments, Elliott had this reply........................