Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Baseball Welcomes Back Alumni
10/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 13, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern recently welcomed over 150 members of the Wildcat Baseball family back to Evanston for its annual Alumni Weekend festivities which were held Oct. 3-4. Individuals came from as far away as California and Florida to be involved in the golf outing and the alumni game.
When 92 golfers showed up to Wilmette Golf Course on Friday, Oct. 3, the sun was shining giving off warm rays on cool fall day as this year's group locked themselves in for the new "shamble" format. Most seemed to like taking the best drive and playing their own ball for a low team score especially the team of Tom Guarneri, Bill Sullivan and Tim Stoddard who came in first with a score of 59. Last year's winning team of Joe Keenan, Pat Kelly, Mark Zimmer and Dick Lane finished a close second with 60 and once again proved themselves to be a formidable quartette of golfers.
Gordon Robinson and Bill Sullivan showed their touch with the irons by being closest to the pins, and Bo Schultz (under 50) and Chuck Newhaus (over 50) showed their strength as the winners of the longest drives. Another contest made its debut this year with the 50/50 "hit the floating raft" event which was won by Alex Gianaras, Jim Happ and Brian Hummert. One of the regular faces to the golf outing who was missing this year was J.A. Happ who stated he would have come back, but the Phillies told him he had to be in Milwaukee for the NLDS. Regardless of the scores, all participants were happy with a day out swinging the sticks to support the team.
Besides the play on the course and the great weather, the event was made special by the groups and individuals who helped sponsor the entire day. Tom and Bud Dodge were responsible for sponsoring dinner, while Tom Guarneri picked up lunch. Five groups sponsored holes: Aadi Home Health, Cavu Investments, The Dave and Leslie Noble family, Power Wellness Management, LLC, and Terry Beacom. American Airlines and Chipotle served as corporate sponsors of the outing.
The weather held up for the alumni game on Saturday and grills were going early as 38 former Wildcats took the field for a home run derby and a game against the 2009 team. Bud Pohlman and Rose Packing supplied the food which included burgers, brats, and chicken as everyone watched `Cats, young and old, compete against each other. David Gresky was the winner of the Home Run Derby and was responsible for getting in touch with many of the alums and putting together a formidable lineup of Wildcat veterans.
The alumni jumped out to a quick lead in the game when Steve Haake hit a leadoff triple and was promptly driven in by Gresky. Other alums with hits were Ken Padgett, Pat McMahon, Brandon Ackley and Jake Owens. Those with RBIs included Gresky, Josh Lieberman and Mike Phelps.
The pitching of the alumni was definitely their strength as six pitchers toed the rubber to hold the 2009 Wildcats to just three runs (one earned) on four hits. Bo Schultz, Dan Konecny, John Seaman, Julio Siberio, Dan Schwartz and Andrew Smith pitched their squad to a 5-3 win for the alums.
This year's version of the alumni contained a slew of current and former professional players including Dan Brauer (Phillies), Tim Buhe (Mets), Gresky (Cubs), Joe Hietpas (Mets), Jon Mikrut (Cardinals), Matt Huff (Rangers), George Kontos (Yankees), Schultz (Athletics), Schwartz (Phillies), Haake (Gary Railcats), Caleb Fields (Pirates) and Konecny (Tigers). Meanwhile, Norm Nedde (1960), Bob Artemenko (1972) and Jim Robinson (1989) showed everyone what it means to be a Wildcat for life as their contributions to the weekend reminded everyone that the purple never comes off.
