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Published On: July 27th, 2016

Mankato, Minnesota—The Northwoods League has announced the rosters for its 2016 Major League Dreams Showcase, held in Madison, Wisconsin on Tuesday August 9th, and is includes six players from the Mankato MoonDogs.

A panel of MLB scouts have selected the top players in the Northwoods League to participate in the showcase, which will feature a day of workouts in front of MLB Scouts for all the players, followed by two games in the evening.

Jake Shepski (Notre Dame), Chase Hamilton (Austin Peay), Jordan Kozicky (Minnesota), David Metzgar (Cal St. Bakersfield), Dalton Lehnen (Cincinnati) and Kevin Yarabinec (Youngstown State) will be representing Mankato at the showcase.

The MoonDogs players will be on the visiting team for the first game and will team up with other selected players from St. Cloud, Thunder Bay, Wisconsin and Duluth. The game will begin at 4:05 p.m. and the home team in the first game will be represented by selected players from La Crosse, Waterloo, Wisconsin Rapids, Eau Claire and Rochester. The second game of the night is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. and will include selected players from the remaining Northwoods League teams not featured in the first game.

 Shepski, who represented the team in Kenosha at the All-Star game, is currently leading the league in home runs (10), RBI (48), OBP (.518), and doubles (18) while placing second in the league in batting average (.382).

Metzgar is posting the fifth highest batting average in the league right now (.342) and has drove in 25 runs, only striking out 11 times in 35 games for Mankato.

Kozicky, who was also a NWL All-Star, is batting .299 with 19 runs scored while also playing all over the diamond for the MoonDogs this season.

Hamilton is tied for fifth in the league with eight home runs, while driving in 31 runs and posting a .276 batting average in 40 games for Mankato.

Yarabinec has also been having a stellar season for the ‘Dogs, possessing a 3-1 record to go with three saves and a 1.95 ERA, while throwing 27.2 innings for Mankato, striking out 27 batters in 19 appearances so far in 2016.

Lehnen is a hard-throwing lefty who has appeared in 13 games this season, giving Mankato 22.2 innings on the bump, posting a 7.14 ERA and striking out 24 opponents.

The Major League Dreams Showcase is a great opportunity for players to further their baseball careers by displaying their talent in front of major league scouts and the MoonDogs are proud to be sending six of their players the event.

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The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visitwww.mankatomoondogs.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.

The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 22-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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 150 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store.