Three Pitchers Return to A’s
Posted: May 17, 2011
Three pitchers are returning for another season of Sheboygan A’s Baseball, including 2010’s Most Valuable Pitcher Eric Van Beck.
Also rejoining the club are Sheboygan pitchers Mitch Gardner of Marian University and Jake Ristow of the UW-Madison club team.
The club also announced a major early season event – the June 4 Grand Opening of the Wildwood Park renovation.
Van Beck went 5-2 with a gaudy 1.31 earned run average to win the A’s MVPitcher award last year when he led the club in innings pitched, 55, and strikeouts, 57. Hartford is Van Beck’s hometown and he is now in his third season at UW-Stevens Point.
Gardner, a former Player of the Year at North High School, missed most of the first half of the A’s 2010 season with an injury and had some rugged outings when he tried to pitch, but he came on strong in the second half and finished with a 2-2 record and a 4.84 ERA.
Ristow appeared in nine games last year, working mostly in short relief. He responded with a pair of saves. He was an outstanding football and baseball player at South High School.
The A’s open their 2011 season with a May 27 exhibition game against Plymouth of the Land o’ Lakes league.
Prior to the June 4 game against the Chicago Clout, the A’s will host a grand opening party to celebrate the completion of Phase 1 of the Wildwood Park renovation project. The celebration begins with a 12 noon brat fry. The Buffalo Joe Band will entertain in the afternoon prior to the 4 p.m. ceremonies.
The brutal winter and spring weather turned virtually every aspect of the renovation into a headache. “It has been a real test,” A’s general manager Denny Moyer said. “We were hoping to get the high school teams on there for their final few games, but now we are hoping it will be ready for the A’s opener. The sod is still soft and unplayable.”
More than 1,000 rolls of sod were laid after the installation of the net poles, laying of concrete and building of dugouts made re-grading of the entire area between the grandstand and the foul lines from first to third base necessary.
“It was a mammoth project, but the finished product will be astounding,” Moyer said.
The Sheboygan A's are members of the Wisconsin State League and Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. The A's have helped develop more than 43 players that have reached professional baseball, including 2002 World Series Champion Jarrod Washburn (Anaheim Angels). All Sheboygan A's home games are played at Wildwood Baseball Park in Sheboygan. Connect with the A's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
