Blas, Williams to continue long tradition of University of Arizona players in La Crosse
La Crosse, Wis. – The La Crosse Loggers Baseball Club announced Tuesday that two current members of the University of Arizona baseball team, Jacob Blas and Donta Williams, will be joining the Loggers on full-season contracts for the 2018 season.
Both Blas and Williams are 2017 high school graduates, with Blas hailing from San Marcos High School in Carlsbad, Calif., and Williams coming to Tucson from Legacy High School in Las Vegas, Nev. The two young men will look to join a roster very familiar with La Crosse, as it includes the likes of former Loggers players Cesar Salazar and Randy Labaut from the 2016 roster, as well as Jason Seever, Mitchell Morimoto, and Cameron Cannon from the 2017 roster.
Blas is a 6-foot-1, 175-pound right-handed infielder who spends the majority of his time at the shortstop position. He was named to the Rawlings/Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-America team in 2017, in addition to First Team All-Region in California. He hit .402 as a junior in high school, posting a .484 on-base percentage, in helping to lead San Marcos to a CIF Championship.
Williams is a 5-foot-11, 170-pound left-handed hitting outfielder who enters the University of Arizona as the No. 1 recruit out of the state of Nevada, as listed by Perfect Game. He is a plus runner with what Wildcats coach Jay Johnson called “elite defensive skills” which helped him earn underclassmen MVP honors at the Perfect Game California World Series in 2016.
Blas and Williams join returning players Grant Judkins (Iowa), Korey Lee (California), Hunter Davis (Duke) and Mason McMahon (UW-La Crosse) to make up the current La Crosse roster for 2018. The Loggers will continue to make additions leading up to the summer season, and the current 2018 roster and schedule are available at www.lacrosseloggers.com.
The La Crosse Loggers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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 185 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-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 (LAD) and Lucas Duda (TBR). 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