Grafton, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks have signed a pair of freshmen from nationally-ranked SEC power Arkansas. Matt Burch and Brenden Heiss (University of Arkansas) will make their way to Kapco Park after the completion of the Arkansas season. With the Razorbacks in the midst of a terrific run this year, the pair will bring winning experience to this year’s Chinook roster.
Matt Burch is an infielder from Gurnee, IL where he helped lead Warren Township High School to the Illinois 4A sectional finals. Ranked as the No. 10 shortstop and the No. 37 overall recruit in Illinois, Burch was named 2016 Rawlings-Perfect Game All-American honorable mention and was twice named honorable mention to the Underclass All-American lists in 2014 and 2015. Playing at third base and second base in eleven games for Arkansas this season, Burch has collected five hits in 25 plate appearances. As a versatile defender, Burch will provide flexibility to Eddy Morgan’s line-up.
Brenden Heiss is also an Illinois native from Algonquin where he pitched for Jacobs High School and helped his team to the 2015 Illinois 4A State semifinals, the first appearance in school history. With a fastball that has been clocked at 95 mph, Heiss struck out 113 in 105.1 innings of high school work and posted a 2.06 ERA. For those efforts, Hess was ranked as the No. 3 right-handed pitcher and No. 9 overall prospect in Illinois and was ranked by Baseball America at the No. 408 overall MLB draft prospect in the Top 500. The Chicago Cubs selected Heiss with the 944th overall pick in the 31st round of the 2016 draft, but the young hurler chose to attend Arkansas where he will look to improve his craft. After being used sparingly this season, Heiss will look to get quality innings over the summer with the Chinooks.
You can catch your first glimpse of the 2017 Chinooks roster on Saturday, June 3rd when Lakeshore takes on the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters at 6:35pm at Kapco Park. Season tickets, mini game packages, and group tickets are all currently on sale. Single game tickets go on sale to the public Monday, May 1st at 10:00am. For tickets and more information, call 262-618-4659 or visit lakeshorechinooks.com.
The Lakeshore Chinooks 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 (BOS), 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.lakeshorechinooks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Chinooks as your favorite team.