Northwoods League and Rawlings Announce ‘Finest in the Field’ Awards
2017 Top Defenders Rewarded for Best Fielding Percentages

Rochester, Minn. – The Northwoods League has announced the recipients of the 2017 Rawlings ‘Finest in the Field’ Award. The annual award recognizes the top fielders at each position. The winners are selected based on final fielding statistics compiled by league statistician Pointstreak.

In his second season as a member of the Rafters, Pitcher Cameron Busby (Belmont Abbey) was selected as a 2017 Rawlings ‘Finest in the Field’ Award recipient. Busby appeared in 26 games out of the bullpen tossing a total of 41 innings while committing 0 errors, good for a 1.000 fielding percentage. He will enter his Senior season this year at Belmont Abbey.

Busby, joins Ben Fisher (2016), Jake Lumley (2016), Patrick Cromwell (2016), Logan Mattix (2016),Ryan Cleveland (2015), Zack Domingues (2014), Brandon Hohl (2012) and Josh Cyr (2012) as previous recipients of the award.

The 2017 Rawlings ‘Finest in the Field’ Award recipients and their fielding percentages are below.

Position Player                            NWL Team                         College                                          Field Percentage
C              David Noworyta         Rochester Honkers            Hawaii                                         .996
1B           Kyle Hubbuch             Duluth Huskies                  North Alabama                           .994
2B           Matthew Tarantino     St. Cloud Rox                      University of the Pacific              .985
3B           David Villar                  La Crosse Loggers             South Florida                            .946
SS           Justin Evans                Eau Claire Express             Columbus State                          943
OF          Cody Hawken              Battle Creek Bombers        University of Portland                 1.000
OF          Zach Ashford               Eau Claire Express              Fresno State                                1.000
OF          Mason Mamarella       St. Cloud Rox                       Kent State                                    1.000
OF          Drake Lubin                 Lakeshore Chinooks            Eastern Michigan                       1.000
P             Cameron Busby           Wisconsin Rapids Rafters  Belmont Abbey                           1.000

Rawlings has been rewarding the top defenders in the Northwoods League since 2002. The recipients receive a special Rawlings engraved trophy. Rawlings is the official equipment provider for the Northwoods League. To qualify for an award a player needs to appear in at least two-thirds of the scheduled games at a specific position, with the exception of catcher which is half. For pitchers, the player that had the highest total defensive chances without committing an error earns the number one spot.

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The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 24-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, 180 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 (LAD) and Lucas Duda (TBR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.comor download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.