The Northwoods League announced today that the league will be expanding to Willmar beginning with the 2010 season.
A group led by experienced Northwoods League team executives Ryan Voz and Marc Jerzak has purchased the NWL expansion franchise in Willmar.
The Northwoods League is a summer baseball league comprised of teams of the top college players from the Midwest and across the nation.
The NWL's Willmar team will play its home games at Bill Taunton Stadium on Earl B. Olson Drive in southwest Willmar.
Willmar has twice hosted Northwoods League regular season games, once in 2006 and again the following year in 2007. Both of those games drew more than 1,000 fans to the ballpark, including 1,425 on July 25, 2006 when Alexandria defeated Mankato 3-2. At that time, Ryan Voz was the General Manager of the Alexandria Beetles.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was to our surprise what a great ballpark the community of Willmar had created and I have always thought Willmar could be a possibility for a Northwoods League franchise," Voz said.
Willmar joins Alexandria, Brainerd, Duluth, Mankato, Rochester, and St. Cloud as Minnesota cities in the NWL; Eau Claire, Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, and Wausau from Wisconsin; Waterloo, Iowa; Battle Creek, Michigan; and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Read more on this story Thursday in the West Central Tribune.
