Grafton, WI – The Lakeshore Chinooks have added two players looking to take a step up in college baseball by proving they can hit against the quality pitching of the Northwoods League. Zach Biermann (Polk State College) and Caleb Dean (Lamar University) have worked their way through junior college and will look to add to their resumes this summer before starting their seasons with Division I schools.
Zach Biermann played high school ball at West Bend East High School before heading to Polk State College in Florida. The strong and powerful first baseman blasted a team-high ten home runs and led the team with 55 RBI as a freshman in 2015, drawing interest from 2016 National Champion Coastal Carolina where he will head next fall. This season, the lefty slugger is hitting .295 with four home runs and has knocked in 23 in 39 games. The 6’3 and 225-pounder should benefit from the opportunity to play in front of friends and family at Kapco Park.
Caleb Dean is sitting out this season after transferring to Lamar from Hill College in Texas. The versatile outfielder who can also fill-in on the infield led Harker Heights High School (TX) as an all-conference second baseman and all-district pitcher for two seasons. At Hill, Dean stroked 22 home runs in 2016 to lead the conference and finish sixth nationally, while helping the Rebels to a third place regional finish. He also hit .378, knocked in 66 runs, and stole 14 bases. With a year of sitting out, Dean will be anxious to prove his bat against Northwoods pitching.
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.