By Adam Krebs
akrebs@themonroetimes.net
GREEN BAY — While COVID-19 has sent athletes on a whirlwind since March, 2019 Pecatonica alum Colton Schraepfer has just rolled with the punches. The UW-La Crosse freshman saw just one at-bat in his spring season with the Eagles, hitting an RBI single against Webster on March 14. The next day the school shut down athletics due to the pandemic reaching American soil in earnest.
From there, Schraepfer returned home to finish out the school year. While always trying to get some innings wherever he can, all of his normal local outlets were without baseball in the late spring and early summer. He took batting practice in Blanchardville with some former high school teammates, and after the Home Talent League schedule was underway in early July he was able to get back onto the diamond.
However, a local COVID-19 outbreak in the Blanchardville area shuttered the Bullets season Aug. 6.
“I told my college coach our season was over, and he said ‘I’ll see what I can do,’” Schraepfer said.
Chris Schwartz, the UW-La Crosse coach, had Schraepfer in line to join either the La Crosse Loggers or the Green Bay Booyah of the Northwoods League. Within 24 hours, the call had come, Schraepfer would drive to the home of the Green and Gold. He’d be joining a couple of college teammates pitcher Will Monroe and infielder Colin Kleffman.
“It’s good to have a couple of guys around that I am familiar with,” Schraepfer said.
The Northwoods League is one of the premier summer college leagues in the nation, with many of the players hailing from NCAA Division I programs. The league is expanding to 31 clubs next year, which makes it the largest of the four major summer college leagues. It also plays more games and draws more fans that the other three leagues.
Many players in the Northwoods League have aspirations for a career beyond the collegiate game. The league has produced more than 200 professional players, including recent Cy Young winners Chris Sale and Max Scherzer.
“It’s a neat experience for him; a great opportunity,” said Jim Strommen, Schraepfer’s high school coach at Pecatonica. “Those are some really good players in that league.”
Booyah debut
In order to join the Booyah, Schraepfer had to pass a COVID-19 test. Instead of joining the team on Aug. 8 as both he and Green Bay had hoped, the negative results waited until Monday to come through. He was quickly placed with a host family and then hit the highway to get to batting practice at Capital Credit Union Park in Ashwaubenon, located less than a mile from Lambeau Field on Holmgren Way.
“It’s a little different. I’m a small-town kid coming to the city. Just driving on the highway and seeing the stadium, it’s a huge jump,” Schraepfer said. “I’ve never played in a stadium like that. It was pretty cool.”
A shortstop in high school, Schraepfer was learning to play the outfield at UW-La Crosse, a D-III school. When he returned home to Blanchardville, he spent the handful of games with the Bullets back at shortstop. One of the youngest players on an experienced roster, Schraepfer said his first interactions with his new teammates will turn him into a bit of a sponge for information to learn the trade of the outfield better.
“Our center fielder (Nadir Lewis, Princeton University sophomore) is really good. I was asking him what his reads are,” Schraepfer said. “The coaches up here were right on me in my first batting practice. They were telling me about what adjustments to make with my back foot and acted like I had been with them all summer.”
Donning the No. 5 jersey, Schraepfer made his Booyah debut Aug. 11 in a 15-1 blowout loss to the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. He entered the game to play left field and in his lone at bat against Brent Teller, a redshirt senior from Miami who played at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
Teller’s first two pitches were out of the zone, and Schraepfer said he was feeling confident with a 2-0 lead in the count. The veteran pitcher came back to even the count at 2-2 before sending Schraepfer back to the dugout swinging on a mid-90s fastball.
“With a 2-0 count, I was sitting fastball,” Schraepfer said. “He was throwing in the 90s, and I have seen that speed before, but this seemed different for some reason. The pitching up here is a lot better.”
Defensively, Schraepfer had two balls hit his way in left field, and he made the catch each time. “I hadn’t seen a fly ball since spring season,” he said. “Being an athlete, you have to be able to adjust quickly if you want to see the field. It’s just what you do.”
There are just two weeks left in the league’s season, then a possible shot in the playoffs for the Booyah. Afterwards, Schraepfer will see what he can do back on campus in La Crosse. He said he’s doubtful a fall season will happen, but there may be some opportunities for small group work with coaches and teammates. Then he’ll turn his focus to the spring season.
Will he get another shot next year in the Northwoods League, whether it be with Green Bay, or La Crosse, or maybe with the Madison Mallards?
“I’d love to play again next year in Green Bay or even in Madison with the Mallards where it would be closer to home,” Schraepfer said. “We’ll see what happens.”
