Outagamie Outlaws

Infobox baseball team
Name=Outagamie Outlaws
Founded=2007
Location=Appleton
Stadium=Wiley Field, USA Soccer Complex
League=Northeast Wisconsin Men's Senior League
LeagueChamps=None
Colors=Black and Red
Season=2008
Record=11-6 (Runner-up finish)
Manager=Mark Bockhaus (2nd season)
Uniform=The Outagamie Outlaws are a 25 and older team that plays in the Northeast Wisconsin Men's Senior Baseball League or N.E.W MSBL. They were founded in 2007 as the Appleton Cardinals and changed their name to the Outagamie Outlaws for the 2008 season. The team website is http://www.outagamieoutlaws.com

__FORCETOC__

2007 Season

As the NEW MSBL expanded from the original four teams in 2006, the Appleton Cardinals were assembled as an expansion team to give the city of Appleton two teams, along with the Cubs. A few players came to the Cardinals from the Green Bay Red Sox as that team also split and an additional Green Bay team was added, the Bay City Sturgeon.

The majority of players for the Cardinals were players that heard about the league from others, and were looking to get back to playing baseball again. The team was assembled in February of 2007 and started league play in May 2007.

As with any expansion team, it took the Cardinals time to come together as a team and as injuries began to take their toll the team struggled in the regular season finishing 3-12. However as the playoffs approached the Cardinals had to play a back to back double header, the first game in Ashwaubenon against the A's, the next game a few hours later against the Eagles in Kewaunee. The Cardinals split the two games, losing a close contest to the A's, and then completing a spirited comeback against the Eagles to take the nitecap, 8-7. The two games provided momentum for the playoffs which began the next week.

The playoffs saw the Cardinals as the 5th seed and traveling to play the number 4 seed Green Bay Wicked at Green Isle Park. In what would be a harbinger of things to come, Jens Hinderlie, after being gone since the fifth game of the season back to Alaska, ripped the second pitch of the game over the left center field wall. The solo shot jump started the Cardinals, and they never looked back in a 9-2 win.

The semi-finals were held the next day, and again the Cardinals were on the road to Ashwaubenon to face the A's, who had received a bye in the first round and were the number 1 seed in the playoffs. The game was close through the middle innings, but finally the A's got some timely hitting and the depleted Cardinal pitching staff couldn't close the door before the damage had been done and the A's went up 12-4. The Cards fought back and scored four in the eighth inning, but couldn't get any closer and dropped a 12-8 decision.

The final game of the season was held in Pulaski the following week, and the Cardinals faced their cross town rivals, the Cubs, in the third place game. It was a nip and tuck throughout, but finally the Cardinals broke through with a late inning rally, highlighted by a towering home run by Marty Crownhart. Rob Collins slammed the door on the Cubs in the late innings and finished off the 6-4 win with a complete game pitching performance.The victory clinched third place in the NEW MSBL playoffs for the Cards.

Soon after the final game the league again looked to expand and a number of the Cardinal players asked the league to start a new team for the 2007 season, and the Outagamie Outlaws were born.

2008 season

With the 2008 season around the corner, expectations were running high as the Outlaws made some key acquisitions. They signed Chris Holder away from the Kewaunee Eagles and Jim Gospadarek from the Milwaukee MSBL. They also signed Mike Van Eperen formerly of the Little Chute River Bandits and Graham Musial who last played for the Oshkosh Giants.

The season started with a bang as the Outlaws pounded out 16 runs on 17 hits en route to a 16-4 victory on May 11th. The Outlaws would then go on to beat the Green Bay Wicked and Bay City Sturgeon in consecutive weeks to start 3-0. The next three weeks saw the Outlaws get swept in two doubleheaders sandwiched with another win over the Wicked. At the All-Star break the Outlaws were sitting in 4th place at 4-4.

The Outlaws sent 5 players to the All-Star game in Ashwaubenon. They were Rob Collins, Marty Crownhart, Matt Barone, Mike Pawlowski and Chris Hoffman. Collins led the South team to a 4-2 victory, going 2-3 with a home run and 3 RBI.

The second half of the regular season saw the Outlaws run the table, going 4-0, including a thrilling walk-off win against the A's, and finishing with a 27-5 victory over the Eagles. The Outlaws pounded out a club record 35 hits. Collins led the way with a 5 hit performance and 4 others added 4 hit games. This firmly cemented the Outlaws as the #3 seed and assured them a first round home game against the Wicked.

The first round saw the Outlaws beat the Wicked 8-2 behind a 6-hit performance from Gospadarek and 3 hits from Crownhart and Collins. Waiting on the horizon were the Appleton Cubs who swept the season series with the Outlaws. However, Gospadarek would make sure things would not go as planned for the Cubs. He threw his best game of the season, a 4-hit, 12-strikeout shutout to vault the Outlaws into the best-of-three Championship series against the Kaukauna Islanders.

In what would be a sign of things to come, The Outlaws held a slim 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 6th, but their usually steady defense did them in. Three Outlaw errors led to 3 Kaukauna runs. Jim Gospadarek took the loss for the Outlaws, going 6 innings, allowing 4 runs, only 1 earned, 6 hits, he struckout 7 while walking only 3.Game 2 was dominated by the Outlaws as they scored all 11 runs in the first 4 innings en route to a 11-3 victory. Collins and Van Eperen each had 3 hits to pace the Outlaws.Game 3 was played at Joannes Park in Green Bay. The Outlaws started fast, scoring 6 runs in the top of the first inning, but shoddy defensive play resulting in 12 errors allowed the Kaukauna Islanders to come all the way back and take the NEW MSBL title with a 14-8 win.

Career Leaders-As of 10/1/08

Batting

Games Played-Marty Crownhart-35Rob Collins-33Chris Hoffman-32

Batting Average-(Minimum 50 at-bats)Collins-.500 (51/102)Crownhart-.463 (50/108)Chris Holder-.370 (20/54)Jake Braun-.303 (27/89)

Home Runs-Crownhart-4Collins-1Braun-1Fred Bocskor-1Jens Hinderlie-1Jeff Coopman-1

Doubles-Crownhart-11Collins-6Bocskor-6Graham Musial-6

Triples-Gospadarek-2Collins-1Braun-1Crownhart-1B.Royce-1Mike Van Eperen-1

RBI-Collins-40Crownhart-28Braun-18

Runs-Crownhart-25Collins-24Barone-19

Stolen Bases-Barone-17Holder-12Pawlowski-11Van Eperen-10

Walks-Collins-17Coopman-11Crownhart-11

Strikeouts-Hoffman-37Bryan Gorney-21Crownhart-20

Hit by Pitch-Crownhart-5Chuck Royce-4Musial-3

Pitching

Innings Pitched-Jim Gospadarek-63 1/3Collins-59 1/3Brian Suprise-25 1/3Musial-24 2/3

Wins-Gospadarek-6 (6-3)Collins-4 (4-4)B.Royce-2 (2-0)

Saves-Collins-3Musial-1B.Royce-1

Strikeouts-Gospadarek-81Collins-73Musial-29

Walks-Collins-55Musial-24Brett Cox-20

Hit Batters-Collins-15Gospadarek-9

ERA-Gospadarek-1.42Collins - 3.38Musial-3.65

Complete Games-Gospadarek-4Collins-2Musial-2B.Royce-2

External Links

* [http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?sid=81853788&url=newmsbl NEW MSBL Official website]
* [http://www.outagamieoutlaws.com Outlaws official website]