The Fadness brothers, who hail from Eau Claire, have played the past two seasons together as a part of the Eau Claire Express. The brother’s are just as competitive off the field as they are on the field.
Will, a catcher who plays at South Mountain CC, is currently batting .217 with 19 RBI for the Express. Nolan, a two-time All-Star, is hitting .282 and leads the Express in at-bats, hits, runs scored and stolen bases. Nolan is in his third season with the Express and is playing with Wisconsin-Oshkosh in college.
Nolan made last year’s 2009 NWL All-Star game in Thunder Bay and had a fantastic experience.
“It was pretty sweet (Thunder Bay All-Star Game). I didn’t really know what to expect. You don’t think of baseball in Canada really, you think of hockey. It was a long trip, but there was a bunch of fans up there so that was cool. I got to meet a lot of guys from other teams and you could tell it was a different game. People were more intense, but it was fun.”
The Fadness brothers have been fortunate enough to have Dale Varsho as a field manager while in Eau Claire. The two of them feel that Varsho has helped them both as a player, but as a person as well.
“You could describe coach in so many ways. I would say along the lines of relaxed. He is just level the whole time. So I’m hoping to see him get fired up,” said Nolan.
Will describes Dale Varsho as, “Silently intense. I know he’s really intense, but he never really shows it. Every now and then you see a spurt from him where he goes crazy, but I like that. I like that type of coaching.”
Nolan has the most NWL experience of any member on the Express this season. He feels that the Northwoods has prepared him well for college ball and is glad for the opportunity.
“You’re going to go through you ups and downs. You kind of just have to deal with them, but I think we’re up to 70 games this year so, you’ll have plenty of time to change your numbers. You can’t get too down. A lot of guys aren’t using wood bats most of the season so coming into a wood bat league that’s mostly pitcher dominated, you have to go with it and it all usually works out in the end.”
Follow Nolan and Will as they finish up their NWL playing careers together in Eau Claire. You can follow them at www.northwoodsleague.com or www.eauclaireexpress.com.
