Saunders heads north for summer baseball

Central Dutch Athletics

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO — A solid junior campaign for Central College baseball shortstop Garrett Saunders (Bonaparte, Van Buren HS) has earned him a shot in the Northwoods League this summer with the Thunder Bay Border Cats.

The Northwoods League is a summer wood bat league for elite college baseball players. The 20-team league cites 185 former players that have reached the Major League Baseball level and is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Thunder Bay is the only Canadian club in a league that also has teams in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Saunders has signed a temporary contract with the team that guarantees him at least 10 games.

The Border Cats roster includes a pair of familiar faces for Saunders in Luther College pitcher Joey Cardamom and catcher Trent Althmann. Ankeny native and Minnesota State pitcher Jackson Rasmussen is also on the team.

The coaching staff also has an Iowa flavor as head coach Mitchell Feller is a 2009 graduate of Buena Vista University. Additionally, Feller serves as an assistant coach at Division II Francis Marion University in South Carolina. Hitting coach Will Loza and pitching coach Matt Cartwright hold those same positions for Graceland University in Lamoni.

The primary leadoff hitter for the Dutch, Saunders started all 39 games. He led the team in hits (64), runs scored (38), stolen bases (21), doubles (16), total bases (95) and batting average (.388). The second-team all-Iowa Conference selection was named the league position player of the week on March 13, when he led the team with 18 hits, 11 runs and seven stolen bases.

Postseason awards for Saunders have included first team all-Central Region from d3baseball.com and second team all-region from ABCA/Rawlings. He was also second team all-Iowa Conference.

The first game for Saunders and the Border Cats is Tuesday, May 29 in Bismarck, North Dakota against the Bismarck Larks at 7:35 p.m. CST.