Carthage College Athletics

Paul Miller--The Only Carthage Graduate to Play Major League Baseball
Paul Miller, ‘87, became the first Carthage baseball player to play in a major league game when he took the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a July 30, 1991, game against the Atlanta Braves. Miller started the game and went the first five innings but did not receive a decision. He was subsequently optioned back to the minor leagues for the remainder of the 1991 season.

Miller was originally selected by Cincinnati Reds in the 27th round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft, but he opted to return to Carthage for his senior year. Miller was subsequently selected by the Pirates in the 53rd round of the 1987 draft and spent four years in the minor leagues prior to his 1991 major league debut. In 1992 and 1993, he split time between Class AAA Buffalo and Pittsburgh (1-0, 2.38 ERA in 11 innings in 1992; 0-0, 5.40 ERA in 10 innings in 1993). Miller pitched the entire 1994 season at Buffalo before retiring as an active player.

John Thiel
John Thiel, '51, first signed a professional baseball contract in 1946 while enrolled at Carthage and played that year for the Class C St. Joseph (Mo.) Cardinals in the Western Association. After skipping the 1947 season, Thiel played for the semi-professional Beloit Red Birds in 1948. He returned to school in the fall of 1948 but left the Carthage men’s basketball team after one game to play with the NBA Milwaukee Hawks (now the Atlanta Hawks). After the basketball season ended, Thiel returned to professional baseball, this time with the Class A Muskegon (Mich.) Clippers in the Central League. In 1950, he started the baseball season with the Class B Waterloo (Iowa) White Hawks in the Three-I League, moved on to the Class C Hot Springs (Ark.) Bathers in the Cotton States League and finished the season with the Class D Wisconsin Rapids White Sox in the Wisconsin State League. Thiel was released by Wisconsin Rapids on Aug. 11, 1950. He graduated from Carthage in 1951 and went on to coach boys basketball at Galesburg (Ill.) High School, where he compiled a 398-90 record from 1955-1973, losing only 11 home games in that period. Thiel died on April 29, 1988, and was posthumously inducted into the Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. (special thanks to Ray Nemec and the Society for American Baseball Research)

Don Welke
Don Welke, '65, lettered four times between 1961 and 1965 and played on two Carthage campuses. " I really enjoyed playing baseball at Carthage," said Welke recently. "There was some great people there, and the old campus was really an entity unto itself. The field on campus, which was nothing to write home about, was right next to a dormitory and a tennis court. I was a left-handed hitter, so I'd try and pull the ball onto the tennis court. Beyond the left field fence was a pasture. Illinois Wesleyan, with coach Jack Horenberger, was the really good team in the league those years, but we were always right there. In 1965, I came north with Carthage and played my senior year in Kenosha. I remember [current Carthage head coach] Augie Schmidt IV very well, and the two of us used to play catch for hours on end when he was about two years old."

After graduation, Welke coached at the high school level in Tigerton, Wis., before landing at Eastern Michigan University as a graduate assistant coach. He later served as the baseball and men’s basketball coach at Concordia College (Michigan) from 1971 to 1976. In 1976, he became athletic director at Evart High School in Evart, Mich., where he also scouted Michigan baseball prospects for the Cincinnati Reds. In 1976, he went to work full-time for the Toronto Blue Jays as an advance scout, and in 1977, Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick named Welke the team's Midwest Scouting Director. Welke held that position until 1993 when he accompanied Gillick to Baltimore after the Orioles named Gillick their general manager. Welke's immediate supervisor with Orioles, scouting director Gary Nickels, also had a CCIW background. Nickels played for Illinois Wesleyan in the late 1960s.

In 2005, Welke worked as a cross-checker for the Texas Rangers. He reunited with Pat Gillick in 2006 as a special assistant to the Philadelphia Phillies general manager. Welke has been a senior special assistant to Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels since 2007.

Welke was featured in a July 13, 1996, New York Times article entitled, “Proving Himself Again,” a piece primarily about former Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud. Welke was the scout who recommended that Gillick draft and sign John Olerud out of Washington State University in 1989. Olerud played for the Blue Jays from 1989 to 1996 before being traded to the New York Mets in December 1996. Welke was also responsible for the Blue Jays selecting Augie Schmidt in the 1983 draft, 1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen in the 1986 draft, and he recommended that Gillick draft Jim Abbott out of high school in Flint, Mich., in 1985. Abbott turned down a professional contract and played three seasons at the University of Michigan before beginning his professional career with the California Angels in 1989.

Keith Sonnichsen
Outfielder Keith Sonnichsen, ’70, was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 43rd round of the 1969 draft after playing for Carthage in 1968. Sonnichsen played for Auburn in the New York-Penn League in 1969 and hit .311 with two home runs and 32 RBI in 70 games and 2222 at bats. In 1970, he hit .230 in 53 games and 161 at bats for Orlando in the Class A Florida State League. Sonnichsen returned to Orlando for the 1971 season and hit .229 with three home runs and 30 RBI in 93 games and 258 at bats.

Dave Marino
Dave Marino was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 20th round of the 1975 draft, after completing his junior year with the Red Men. A second-team All-CCIW shortstop in 1975 (.363 with 11 doubles), Marino was shifted to third base by Milwaukee and played all of the 1975 season and part of the 1976 season in Newark, N.Y. in the New York-Penn League. He was released by the Brewers' organization in early 1976. Prior to his professional stint, Marino played two years at Carthage after playing his freshman season at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He is one of seven Carthage baseball players to steal 20 or more bases in a season, swiping 21 as a sophomore in 1974.

Brian Wulf
Brian Wulf had a brief career with in the Minnesota Twins organization in 1987. Wulf appeared in six games with Elizabethton in the Appalachian League, going 1-0 with one save and a 3.18 ERA in 11 innings. He also played for the Kenosha Twins in the Midwest League, making three relief appearances totaling four innings. Wulf played at Carthage from 1985-87 and went 6-3 with a 4.17 earned run average his senior year.

Ryan Taylor
Ryan Taylor pitched for the 1994 Champaign, Ill., team in the Great Central League and received a spring training invitation from the 1995 Minnesota Twins as a potential replacement player during the 1994-95 baseball players’ strike. Taylor, a second-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and CCIW “Baseball Player of the Year” in 1994, posted a 10-3 record and 1.46 ERA that year and set Carthage season records for wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.

Brent Sagedal
A 42nd-round selection of the Texas Rangers in the 1995 draft, Brent Sagedal, '95, pitched for Hudson Valley in the short-season New York-Penn League that summer. He appeared in 14 games, making five starts and compiling an 0-2 record with a 7.08 ERA in 34 innings. Sagedal went 19-9 in his four-year Carthage career (1992-95). He was a 37th-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers as a junior but returned for his senior year and led Carthage with a 9-3 record and a 3.12 ERA. He was named third-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and first-team All-CCIW in 1995, after being named second-team all-conference for the 1994 season.

Jim Miller
Jim Miller, '97, was cut from the baseball team on two occasions, once as first baseman and the second time as an outfielder. He asked coach Augie Schmidt for permission to try again as a pitcher and made the junior varsity squad in 1996. After pitching his first-ever varsity game on March 21, 1997, Miller went on to post a 10-1 record with a 1.80 ERA his senior year, was named first-team All-CCIW, second-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American and was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 11th round of the Major League Baseball Draft. In 1997, Miller went 5-7 with a 5.99 ERA in 71 innings pitched at Helena in the Pioneer League. He spent the 1998 season back in the Pioneer League, this time at Ogden, and went 7-5 with a 4.63 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 101 innings pitched. Miller opened the 1999 season with the Beloit in the Midwest League and went 0-1 with a 3.77 ERA in 14 innings before being promoted to Stockton in the California League. At Stockton, Miller went 8-9 with one save and a 4.42 ERA in 124 innings pitched. He opened the 2000 season with the Mudville, the new location of the Stockton franchise, in the California League, but was released in mid-May.

Shorty Flees
Outfielder Shorty Flees, '97, was signed as a minor league free agent in June 1997 by the Will County Cheetahs in the Heartland League. Flees hit .263 with six home runs in 31 games for the Cheetahs. Flees returned to the Cheetahs, now the Cook County Cheetahs, in 1998 and hit .275 with six home runs and 29 RBI. He set a league record with nine RBI against the Tennessee Tomahawks on June 29, 1998.

Tim Pulizzano
Pitcher Tim Pulizzano, '98, played on the 1998-2000 Cook County Cheetahs. He compiled a 4-5 record with a 2.88 ERA and 72 strikeouts in a league-leading 100 innings pitched in 1998. In 1999, he went 6-7 with four saves with a 3.29 ERA in 98 innings pitched. He went 7-6 with a 4.36 ERA and six shutouts in 20 games and 117.2 innings pitched in 2000 and played in the league's all-star game.

Will Madson
Pitcher Will Madson, '98, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 23rd round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft. He pitched for the Jamestown team in the New York-Penn League in 1998, where he went 1-2 with a 2.26 ERA in 56 innings pitched. Madson opened the 1999 season with West Michigan in the Midwest League where he pitched against the Detroit Tigers in a May 17 exhibition game at Comstock Park in Grand Rapids, Mich. He finished the year with a 1-2 record and a 10.13 ERA in eight innings pitched. Madson was released by the Detroit organization in 2000.

Tom Les
Outfielder Tom Les, '99, played for the Cook County Cheetahs in both 1999 and 2000. He batted .254 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 67 at bats in 1999 and .249 with five home runs and 37 RBI in 181 at bats in 2000. Les played for the European-championship Greek national team in 2002 and returned to the Cheetahs in 2003.

Dean Muthig
Third baseman Dean Muthig, '99, was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 33rd round of the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft. He played first base for the Batavia team in the New York-Penn League in 1999 and hits .262 with one home run and 18 RBI in 107 at bats. Muthig opened the 2000 season in the Phillies extended spring training camp and finished the year playing both first base and third base with Batavia, where hit .225 with five home runs and 15 RBI. Muthig had season-ending elbow surgery in August 2000 and retired prior to the 2001 season.

Kevin Sullivan
Catcher Kevin Sullivan, 2000, was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 32nd round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft and played on three different teams his first year. Sullivan started the 2000 season with the Phillies' Gulf Coast League team in Clearwater, Fla., but was quickly promoted to Batavia in the New York-Penn League, where he hit .176 in 34 at bats. He finished the season at Piedmont in the South Atlantic League, where he batted .324 in 37 at bats with four doubles and four RBI.

Sullivan was released by the Philadelphia Organization prior to the 2001 season, but he signed with the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs in the Northern League. His Northern League contract was purchased by the Colorado Rockies organization on Dec. 17, 2001, and he was assigned to Class A Salem in the Carolina League for the start of the 2002 season. Playing left field at Salem, he batted .260 with 14 doubles and 22 RBI in 150 at bats before being promoted to the Class AA Carolina Mudcats in the Southern League on June 20. Sullivan was sent back to Salem on July 19 after batting .182 with two RBI in just 11 at bats. His season totals at Salem were a .264 batting average, 24 doubles, three home runs and 37 RBI in 280 at bats. Sullivan returned to the Rockies organization in 2003 and was assigned to Class AA Tulsa. He was sent down to Class A Visalia on June 13 after batting .250 in 64 at bats for the Drillers and then recalled by Tulsa on June 25. On June 30, Sullivan was called up to Class AAA Colorado Springs before being sent back to Tulsa on July 3. The Rockies organization called Sullivan back up the Colorado Springs on July 12 for two games before returning him to Tulsa on July 16.

Throughout his stops in the Rockies’ farm system in 2003, Sullivan played catcher, first base, third base, left field and right field and served as the designated hitter. For the year, Sullivan batted .241 in 166 at bats with six doubles, one home run, 16 RBI and two stolen bases. He was released by the Rockies’ organization in December 2003 and signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox in January 2004. The White Sox released Sullivan in March 2004, and he signed up for another tour of duty with the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs in the Northern League, where he batted .268 with five home runs and 32 RBI in 213 at bats.

Sullivan signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs in January 2006 but was released at the end of minor league spring training in March. He returned for his third tour of duty with the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs in 2006 and batted .308 with five home runs and 47 RBI in 318 at bats. Sullivan was traded to the Northern League Joliet Jackhammers in January 2007. He batted .226 with three home runs and 24 RBI in 40 games for the Jackhammers before being traded to the St. Paul Saints in the American Association on Aug. 6. Sullivan batted .283 in 60 at bats for the Saints, He returned to St. Paul in 2008 and batted .295 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI. Sullivan completed his nine-year minor league career in August 2008 with a season-ending stint in the Atlantic League, playing for the Southern Maryland Bluecrabs.

Dan Grybash
Pitcher Dan Grybash was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 34th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft and signed a professional contract on June 7, foregoing his senior season at Carthage. He was assigned to Helena in the short-season Pioneer League, where he compiled a 2-1 record with a 2.82 earned run average in 17 appearances and six starts. In 38.3 innings pitched, Grybash walked 12 batters and struck out 31. In 2004, he worked out of the bullpen for the Beloit Snappers in the Midwest League, making 40 appearances and compiling a 4-2 record with two saves and a 4.98 ERA in 72.1 innings pitched. Grybash opened the 2005 season with Brevard County in the Florida State League before being released in June with an 0-1 record and an 8.44 earned run average in 17 appearances. He signed with the Fort Worth franchise in the American Association on June 18. He went 6-2 with a save and a 4.06 earned run average in 11 appearances and 58.0 innings pitched. Grybash returned to Fort Worth in 2006, where we went 6-7 with 3.98 ERA in 92.2 innings pitched. His manager in 2005 (and first base coach in 2006) was 60-year baseball veteran Wayne Terwilliger, who joined Connie Mack as the only 80 year-olds to manage a professional baseball team. Grybash was traded to the Northern League Schaumburg Flyers on Oct. 23, 2006 and went 9-5 in 2007 with a 3.39 earned run average in 135.1 innings pitched. Grybash was traded back to Fort Worth in December 2007 and went 8-5 with a 3.18 earned run average in 18 starts. He returned to Fort Worth for the 2009 season.

Jeff Livek
Pitcher Jeff Livek was selected by the New York Yankees in the 28th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. Livek was assigned to Staten Island in the New York-Penn League where he compiled a 1-2 record with a 6.27 earned run average in 13 relief stints. He was released by the Yankees organization prior to spring training in 2008, signed with the Midwest Sliders in the Frontier League but was released on May 18, prior to the start of the Sliders’ season.

Boe Baitinger
Outfielder Boe Baitinger played with the Frontier League Rockford River Hawks in 2008 and batted .175 in 40 at bats over 20 games.

Jason Acevado
First baseman Jason Acevado played with the Frontier League Midwest Sliders in 2009. The Sliders played their 2009 home schedule at Eastern Michigan University’s Oestrike Stadium in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Mike Hughes
Catcher Mike Hughes played with the Frontier League Normal CornBelters in 2010. The CornBelters played at the CornCrib Stadium in Normal, Ill.

Will Hodges
Outfielder Will Hodges played with the 2012 London (Ontario) Rippers in the Frontier League.

Eric Rohe
Pitcher Eric Rohe played with the Frontier League Rockford River Hawks in 2012.