Waterloo, IA – The 25th annual Northwoods League All-Star Game is in the books and Chinooks relief pitcher Will Klein (Eastern Illinois) brought the velocity to the summer collegiate mid-summer classic. The Bloomington, Indiana native consistently hit upper 90s on the radar gun including five pitches at 99 MPH and once at 100 MPH. Klein appeared in the 6th inning where he faced two batters, striking out both.
The Great Lakes Division ended up defeating the Great Plains Division with a final score of 5-2 infront of 1,800 fans at Riverfront Stadium, home of the Waterloo Bucks. All pitchers for the Great Lakes Division including Klein would face two batters each except starter Andrew Hoffman (Traverse City). All-Star Game MVP honors went to Madison’s Justice Bigbie who hit two home runs on the night (he also leads the league in HR’s, RBI’s, and currently on a 27 game hitting streak).
Following the All-Star Game, Will Klein will be shut down for the remainder of the season by Eastern Illinois. His summer would end with one of the best relief pitching stat lines in Lakeshore history. With 16 appearances, Will would end with a 0.85 ERA, giving up just 8 hits with 38 strikeouts and just 8 walks. Klein would also record 7 saves.
The team will have one final day off during All-Star break before heading to Madison for a two game series with the Mallards. The Chinooks return home Saturday night for a matchup against the Green Bay Booyah.
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.