All-Star Players from the North and South to battle in a new team format

Rochester, Minn. — On Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 6:45 p.m. (CST) college baseball’s best players will take part in the 2014 Northwoods League All-Star Game presented by Fiduciary Management, Inc. The game will be hosted by the Lakeshore Chinooks at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University in Mequon, WI. Honorary Managers for the game will be former big league players, Robin Yount and Jim Gantner, both of whom spent their entire playing careers in Milwaukee.

Included in that day’s festivities will be the Home Run Challenge. Five participants each from the North and the South All-Star teams will compete in a team style challenge that will begin at 4:45 p.m.

The participants in the Home Run Challenge for the North team will include Nick Rivera (Florida Gulf Coast), Willmar Stingers; Chris Paul (UC Berkeley), St. Cloud Rox; Levi Scott (UT Arlington), Mankato MoonDogs; Jeff Campbell (North Dakota), Rochester Honkers and Tyler Hermann (UW-Milwaukee), Eau Claire Express. 

For the South squad the Home Run Challenge participants will be Paul DeJong (Illinois State), Wisconsin Woodchucks; Pat Porter (Ohio State), Kenosha Kingfish; Pete Alonso (Florida), Madison Mallards; Brett Siddall (Canisius), Lakeshore Chinooks and Jared Kujawa (Western Michigan), Kalamazoo Growlers. 

These ten players have combined for 64 home runs this year.

The format will be a ten round exhibition with each half inning consisting of one of the players from the North or South team hitting.  Each player will receive five outs per half inning and the team with the most home runs at the end of the ten rounds will be declared the winning team. The player who hits the most home runs during their at-bats will be crowned the individual champion. 

Lakeshore’s first time hosting of the Northwoods League's All-Star Festivities will kick-off with the All-Star Banquet on Monday, July 21, at the Ozaukee County Fair Grounds in the Columbia St. Mary’s Center at 5:00 p.m. The featured speaker will be the Commissioner of Baseball, Allan H. “Bud” Selig. In addition to Commissioner Selig the teams will be introduced by the Honorary Managers, Jim Gantner for the North Team and Robin Yount for the South Team. Live entertainment will follow the program. Tickets for the All-Star Banquet are $60 per person and can be purchased by calling the Lakeshore Chinooks offices at 262-618-4659.

On game day, Tuesday, July 22, the gates will open at Kapco Park at 3:30 p.m. Players will rotate through the VIP Photography Autograph Zone until 5:30 p.m. and the Home Run Challenge will begin at 4:45 p.m.

Tickets to Tuesday’s Northwoods League All-Star Festivities including the autograph session, Home Run Challenge and the All-Star game are $15 for Reserved Box, $10 for Reserved Grandstand and $7 for General Admission and can be purchased by visiting lakeshorechinooks.com or calling the Lakeshore Chinooks offices at 262-618-4659.

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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 20-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com.