Last week, Giancarlo Stanton hit monster dingers in the MLB Home Run Derby at Petco Park in San Diego. In mid-June, top MLB prospects hit homers into the Pacific Ocean off an aircraft carrier in the San Diego Harbor during the California and Carolina League Home Run Derby. This week, top college baseball players hit moonshots into Lake Michigan.
Word to the wise: if you want to make headlines with your home run derby, hold it on the water or bring in Giancarlo Stanton. If you don’t, it’ll probably be bad.
The Northwoods League is one of the top college summer baseball leagues in the country. The league is made up of 18 teams spread across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, and Ontario, Canada.
This week, the league held its annual All-Star Game at the home of the Kenosha Kingfish in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The annual home run derby wasn’t played at the home of the Kingfish, Simmons Field. Instead, it was held on Lake Michigan with contestants having to hit baseballs over a buoy line in the water. The line of buoys aligned with the dimensions of Simmons Field.
NWL HR Derby last night into Lake Michigan! Awesome atmosphere. Hosting @KenoshaKingfish Marty Bechina wins it! pic.twitter.com/Rh02IZPGN0
— Sawyer Gieseke (@sawyergieseke) July 19, 2016
The hometown hero Marty Bechina of the Kenosha Kingfish won, however it’s not clear how many homers he hit to win the derby.
Kyle Petty is your Midway Classic HR derby champion. Here is the winner #Mariners @BakoBlaze pic.twitter.com/FlTxWvHBoV
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) June 21, 2016
