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Frontier League All-Star Teams Announced

July 4, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) News Release


Sauget, IL - Voting by managers, general managers, coaching staffs, and local media for the 2012 Frontier League All-Star Game, presented by State Farm, has concluded with the first 24 members of the East and West squads announced.

The East Division will be the visitors in the contest and features a starting infield of Joash Brodin of the London Rippers, Ryan Still of the Traverse City Beach Bums, Chris Curley of the Florence Freedom, and Jake Kaase of the Southern Illinois Miners. Brodin is making his third consecutive All-Star appearance and currently leads the league with a .389 batting average while Still's .563 on-base percentage is the best. Curley is a repeat All-Star who ranks in the top 5 in batting average, home runs. Back-up infielders are Chase Burch and Jose Vargas from Traverse City, Will Block from Southern Illinois, and Junior Arroyo from Florence.

The starting East outfield is Jeff Flagg and Brian Heere from Traverse City and Chad Maddox from Southern Illinois, with Darian Sandford from Southern Illinois as the reserve. Flagg is tied for second in home runs with 12 and Maddox tied for fourth in RBI with 43.

Jim Jacquot from Florence will start behind the plate and be backed up by Marcus Nidiffer from Traverse City and Jim Vahalik from London. Russell Moldenhauer of the Lake Erie Crushers is the designated hitter.

The East pitching staff features Dan Blewett from the Evansville Otters; Jacob Clem, Reid Kelly, and Scott Mueller from Traverse City; Paul Fagan from Lake Erie; Yohan Gonzalez and Jamie Richmond from London; and David Harden from Southern Illinois. Blewett, the leading vote recipient among pitchers, leads the league with a 1.06 ERA, a full run better than the next closest qualifier while Kelly is tied for the lead with his six victories and Harden is tied for third. Gonzalez has the fourth lowest ERA at 2.21. Mueller ranks second with his ten saves and is making his third All-Star appearance.

The host West Division line-up features Chad Creger, Michael Torres, and Chris Wade from the Windy City ThunderBolts along with Frank Pfister from the Schaumburg Boomers around the infield. Creger is second with his 47 RBI while Pfister ranks fifth with nine home runs and sixth with a .330 batting average. Torres is second with 19 stolen bases and will be appearing in his second All-Star Game. They will be backed-up by Jarod Yakubik and Jonathan Johnson from the Gateway Grizzlies, Matt Greener from the Rockford RiverHawks, and Pat McKenna from the Normal CornBelters.

The starting West outfield features Javier Herrera from Rockford, Jeremy Synan from the River City Rascals, and Abel Nieves from the Joliet Slammers, with the CornBelters' Alvaro Ramirez the reserve outfielder. Herrera is second overall with a .380 batting average and third with 45 RBI while Nieves ranks forth with a .348 mark.

Behind the plate, River City's Charlie Lisk, the Frontier League's career home run leader, gets the start with Landon Hernandez from Gateway and Pat Trettel from Normal also making the team. Jason Patton from River City will be the designated hitter.

Gateway's Tim Brown was the leading vote recipient among pitchers and will be joined by Amailo Diaz from Joliet, Mike Lee from Rockford, Patrick Mincey and Cameron Roth from Schaumburg, and Mike Recchia, Stephen Sauer, and Dustin Williams from Windy City. Brown ranks second with his 2.06 ERA with Lee third at 2.20. Recchia leads the league with 70 strikeouts, while Williams, who set the single-season record with 157 in 2011, ranks second. Diaz is tied for third with nine saves.

Pitchers Max Peterson (Southern Illinois) and Dustin Umberger (River City) both received enough votes to make the team but each had their contract purchased by the Chicago White Sox earlier this week.

East Division field manager Gregg Langbehn of the Traverse City Beach Bums and West Division manager Jamie Bennett of the Schaumburg Boomers will name the final three players to each squad on Thursday.

The 2012 Frontier League All-Star game will take place at The Corn Crib in Normal, Illinois, home of the Normal CornBelters. All-Star events open with a luncheon at the Marriott in Uptown Normal on Tuesday, July 10. The Fan Fest and Home Run Derby will take place that evening followed by the game at 7:05 pm on Wednesday, July 11. Reggie the Purple Party Dude will entertain fans both nights, each of which will feature post-event fireworks. Tickets and additional information for both days are available at www.normalbaseball.com.

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