The St. Cloud River Bats have announced that Gabe Boruff will be their field manager for the 2009 season.

Boruff, currently in his third season as an assistant coach for Washington State University, comes to the River Bats with plenty of baseball experience. After being drafted in the 35th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft he went on to Lewis-Clark State, where he was part of two national championship teams. (1999, 2000)

Following his playing career Boruff spent three years as an assistant coach at Wenatchee Valley College before eventually landing at Washington State. He also has summer league experience as a field manager and recruiter. In 2007 Boruff managed and assembled the roster for the Moses Lake Pirates who won a West Coast Collegiate League championship in just his second season as manager. That same season he was named WCCBL Coach of the Year.

“It’s great to have a guy like Gabe to lead your team. He has experience both as a recruiter and as a coach, you don’t see that everywhere,” said River Bats Owner Joel Sutherland.

Along with managing the River Bats Boruff is responsible for putting together the 2009 River Bats roster, which should begin to come together in the next few weeks.

“It’s great to come to an organization with such a winning tradition,” said Boruff. “I’m really excited to be a part of this and I can’t wait to put a team on the field that all of Central Minnesota can be proud of.”