Catchers Kahle and Lee, Outfielder Ydens Excited for NWL Experience
La Crosse, Wis. – The La Crosse Loggers front office announced today that they have secured three players from the Pac-12 Conference for the upcoming 2017 summer season with the signings of Nicholas Kahle (Washington), Korey Lee (California) and Jeremy Ydens (UCLA).
Nicholas Kahle is embarking on his freshman season at the University of Washington and comes to the Huskies as one of the top freshman prospects in the entire country. Ranked as high as the 119th best freshman in the nation by Perfect Game, the 5-11, 210 pound backstop was a 2016 Rawlings-Perfect Game 3rd Team All-American out of Chaminade College Preparatory School in Simi Valley, Calif. Kahle is also familiar with summer collegiate baseball as he enjoyed a successful stint with Corvallis of the West Coast Collegiate League last summer as a high school senior when he hit .259 with one home run and 11 RBI’s over 108 at-bats for the Knights. The right-handed hitting Kahle is a member of the Washington’s recruiting class that was ranked as the 19th best class in the country and the Huskies are opening the 2017 season ranked as high as 12th in Baseball America’s pre-season poll.
Joining Kahle from the Pac-12 and also as a fellow backstop is Korey Lee from Cal-Berkeley. Like Kahle, Lee is one of the top freshman catchers in the country after earning 2016 Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American honors out of Vista High School (Vista, Calif.). The 5-11, 210 pound catcher was heavily recruited coming out of high school ultimately choosing Cal over the likes of UCLA, Nevada-Reno, USC, Nebraska and Arizona. Lee was a career .347 hitter at Vista High School and hit .407 during his all-American senior season in 2016.
Jeremy Ydens becomes the second UCLA Bruin to commit to the Loggers for the 2017 campaign, joining teammate Jake Hirabayashi who will be returning to La Crosse for his second stint. The ultra-athletic Ydens spurned professional baseball upon wrapping up his high school career at St. Francis High School (Campbell, Calif.) when he turned down an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals who had selected him in the 40th round of the 2016 MLB draft. Instead, the 6-2, 175 pound outfielder opted to further his game under the tutelage of John Savage at UCLA where he is part of the 16th ranked recruiting class in the country. The 2016 MaxPreps second team All-American was ranked as the 255th best freshman in the country by Perfect Game heading into this 2017 season.
Kahle, Lee, Ydens and the rest of the Loggers will open the 2017 campaign at home on Tuesday, May 30 when they play host to the Duluth Huskies at 7:05 p.m. Gates will open to the newly renovated Coverra Insurance Courtyard at 6:00 p.m. to kick of the Loggers 15-year anniversary season.
The La Crosse Loggers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.lacrosseloggers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Loggers as your favorite team.
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