WAUSAU, WI – AUGUST 14, 2007 – A season after finishing dead last in the Northwood's League season, the Chucks started 2007 with almost an entire new look. A brand new coaching staff, led by 17-year Major League veteran Jim Gantner, along with just two players from '06 roster, gave Chuck fans promise. A 36-31 finish was the Chucks best since a 2003 Northwood's League Champion season. In the first half, the Chucks lost ground when Green Bay won 15-straight and Wisconsin dropped six of seven games in the middle of the Bullfrogs hot streak.

The Chucks started the second half red hot winning six in a row, including a 19-2 win over Battle Creek at Bukolt Park in front of a season-high 3,073 fans. Fireworks entertained fans after and during the game as Jeremy Barnes (Notre Dame) smacked three, three-run home runs in consecutive innings placing him into the Northwood's record books as only the sixth player ever to hit three bombs in one game. The Chucks led the south division for nearly the first three weeks of the second half, but relinquished the lead on July 24 when Eau Claire won and the Woodchucks lost to Duluth 2-1. The Chucks kept in the hunt, until a six-game road trip where Alexandria and south division leader Eau Claire swept the Chucks in back-to-back, two-game series. 

A great, consistent pitching staff logged 35 quality starts and a league-best 2.93 ERA. Matt Trausch (Oakland) and Pat Venditte (Creighton) both posted sub 2.00 ERA's as Trausch led the team with six victories and Venditte topped the save department with nine. Trausch finished fourth in league ERA and tossed 86.1 innings, a league high. Willy Kesler (Lamar C.C.) tied for the league-lead with 86 K's, but struggled to get run support throughout the season posting a 4-6 record. The staff posted five shutouts, including a complete game by Matt Trausch on July 4 at Battle Creek, which garnered him Northwood's League Player of the Night. Both Trausch and Justin Fitzgerald (UC-Davis) had unforgettable July's posting Little League ERA's of 0.65 and 0.61.

Offensively, the Chucks were led by Darin Ruf (Creighton) who finished second in batting (.347) and home runs (8), and was the only hitter, with at least half the games played, that finished above .300. Ruf cemented himself as the number three hitter after smacking a two-run home run in just his second at-bat of the season. Justin Potes (Creighton), who left just before the all-star break with an injury, drove in 20 runs in just 30 games played and earned a trip to the Northwood's League All-Star game along with Brandon Frazier (Texas-Wesleyan), Willy Kesler, Pat Venditte and Ruf. A couple Chucks were also honored on the NWL Post-Season All-Star team, voted on by coaches and media, when Matt Trausch and Darin Ruf were selected. Brent Weaver (Rose State College) was added to the roster at the start of the second half and showed some long ball power clubbing six round trippers and five doubles. 

For the fifth straight season the Chucks drew more than 60,000 fans to "The Burrow" (a.k.a. Athletic Park) with a season total 61,742. Rollie Fingers, Gorman Thomas and Sherriff Rosco P. Coltrane were among the celebrities that touched Athletic Park grass. Chucks mascot 'Woody' also had some competition at "The Burrow" as Bucky Badger continued his visits and for the second straight year Klement's Sausages traveled from Milwaukee to race around Athletic Park. 

In the summer of '08, the Chucks hope to build on what was started this year with MLB-veteran Jim Gantner. Come Join the Fun at "The Burrow" for another exciting summer with wacky promotions and giveaways all season long.