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Northwoods League and Rawlings Announces the League’s Top Defenders
Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – Each season Rawlings, in partnership with the Northwoods League, awards the top defender in their respective position as the ‘Finest in the Field’. This year the Rafters dominated defensively and took three of the nine spots.
In 41 games and 317.3 innings, Jake Dunham had a .997 fielding percentage. Dunham had 280 putouts, 22 assists, and only committed one error the whole season. Peter Matt and Richie Schiekofer both had a perfect season defensively in the outfield with a fielding percentage of 1.000. Matt saw the field in 51 games and played in 392.4 innings. He had 86 putouts and four assists. Schiekofer played in 62 games and 497.2 innings, which was the most by any other Rafter player. He totaled 102 putouts and had one assist.
Rawlings has been giving out the ‘Finest in the Field’ award in the Northwoods League since 2002. Players need to appear in at least two-thirds of the scheduled games in their respective positions in order to qualify, however; catchers only need to play in half. Dunham, Matt, and Schiekofer will each receive a special Rawlings engraved trophy. The 2019 Rawlings ‘Finest in the Field’ Award recipients are below.
| Position | Player | NWL Team | College | Fielding Percentage |
| C | Jake Dunham | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Northern Illinois | .997 |
| 1B | Sam Kohnle | Eau Claire Express | Winona State | .997 |
| 2B | Jack Chernow | Bismarck Larks | Columbia | .969 |
| 3B | Jacob Buchberger | Green Bay Booyah | Davenport | .965 |
| SS | Nick Novak | Mankato MoonDogs | Angelo State | .983 |
| OF | Brandon Seltzer | Wisconsin Woodchucks | Palm Beach Atlantic | 1.000 |
| OF | Peter Matt | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Pennsylvania | 1.000 |
| OF | Richie Schiekofer | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Rutgers | 1.000 |
| P | Garret Rukes | Willmar Stingers | Alabama | 1.000 |
Want to attend a Rafters game next season? Rafters Ticket Packages are on sale now! For more information on ticket options visit Raftersbaseball.com, call the Rafthouse at 715-424-5400, or visit Historic Witter Field. The Rafthouse is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Thursday at Witter Field, 521 Lincoln Street in Wisconsin Rapids.
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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 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.raftersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.
