Grafton, WI – With the Northwoods League season less than a month months away, the Chinooks have added three more experienced position players.  Izaya Fullard (Iowa), Jake Garella (St. Louis), and Ross Messina (Ball State) will bring defensive versatility and hot bats as their college seasons end to Travis Akre’s lineup.

 

Izaya Fullard (3B/1B/SO) transferred to the Hawkeyes after being selected as a NJCAA DII All-American in his freshman season at Kirkwood Community College where he hit a whopping .470 and led the NJCAA with 107 hits, including seven home runs and 76 RBI.  In his sophomore season, Fullard has been a mainstay in the Iowa lineup and is hitting .286 with three home runs and 22 RBI.  The physical corner infielder from North Liberty, IA will add punch to the Chinook batting order.

 

 

 

 

 

Jake Garella (OF/JR) earned A-10 First Team All-Conference honors in 2018 after playing in 58 games, earning starts in all of them. The Edwardsville, IL native hit .352 with two home runs and 47 RBI as a sophomore.  Garella has continued that success this season with a .292 batting average, .416 slugging percentage, and .371 on-base percentage.  He leads the Billikens with sixteen doubles and 74 total bases through 42 games.

 

Ross Messina (IF/OF) has not cooled off since transferring this year to Ball State from Seminole State in Oklahoma where hit .379 with four home runs and 41 RBI.  In his first season with the Cardinals, the versatile defender from Kansas City, MO has been an everyday player in the outfield while hitting .321 with eighteen doubles, four home runs and 40 RBI.  Capable of playing on the infield as well, Messina will travel to Lakeshore after a highly successful season for Ball State in the Mid-American Conference.

 

 

The Summer of 19 and 2019 season is presented by Port Washington State Bank with the home opener set for May 30th at 6:35pm against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Single game, season, and group tickets are currently available for purchase.

The Lakeshore Chinooks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  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.