The word spread fast Thursday night at the Watertown Baseball Park. "He's going to Chicago right after the game.  Won't be around after tonight."  They were talking about Ryan Bollinger (pictured), a pitcher/first baseman, who has made the St. Boni Saints a much more competitive team over the last six weeks.

Ryan Bollinger, 19, was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 draft.  He signed with them in August, finished the year with their rookie team, was invited to their fall instructional league in October and went to Spring training this year.

He came to the Saints after being cut by the Phillies on the last day of extended Spring training this year.  The game against Glencoe was his eighth with St. Boni. In that time he had five home runs, including three in one game against New Germany, and hit .463 with around 15 RBIs.  He also pitched 22 innings for the Saints and struck out 44 batters.  He would have played in at least three more games, but because he played before his pro-player paperwork was OKed he was required to sit out three league games.

Bollinger batting in Watertown versus Glencoe July 29th 2010.

"We didn't even know you guys had it (amateur baseball) and when he was released we started looking at some options and were happy to have the option to do this," said Ryan's dad, Todd Bollinger, a retired air force man.  He lives in Mound and moved his family from Minot, North Dakota where Ryan graduated from High School.

"It was a lot of fun," said Ryan about playing with St. Boni.  "I was on my way home from Florida and my mom and dad called around to teams and everything.  St. Boni was close to home so I figured it was a good place to play.  I know they weren't doing too well, but we turned it around."

"Belle Plaine was the first time I've thrown in almost a year and I felt like my velocity was good but couldn't hit a spot.  But against Winsted my velocity was good and everything was good that game.  I think I had twelve, thirteen strikeouts so stuff started working that day."

The Saints were playing the number one seed, Glencoe, in a best of three series.  Gloncoe won the first game 10-4 and was looking for a sweep.  St. Boni was the home team and had moved the game to Watertown for the lights.

With Bollinger playing right field, the Saints didn't stay in the game too long.  Glencoe scored five runs in the second inning on a combination of singles, errors, bad throws and poorly executed rundowns.  Glencoe ended the game on the run rule after seven with the final being 12-0, ending St. Boni's season.

The rumors were true.  Ryan got an opportunity to play and pitch with the Windy City Thunderbolts in the Frontier League.  He and his dad Todd left for Chicago on Friday morning.  Ryan is scheduled to pitch on Saturday night and that is the reason he was playing right field on Thursday.

Todd explained what happened when Ryan found out about the Chicago opportunity.  "Last night when we found out about this Pioneer League thing he was a little torn.  When he found out, he was like what do I need to do?  I said 'What do you want to do?  You have to make that decision for yourself.'  When you're young, you have to play ball," added Todd Bollinger.

"They said I'm going to pitch there and be in their starting rotation.  It will be a little different than town ball, but it's going to be fun," said Ryan.

His thoughts on St. Boni-"We're a lot better team than what the record showed...They will be a tough team next year.  I had a blast.  I haven't really had that much fun playing ball in a lot of years.  You cheer your team on, you don't just sit there...this is a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it."

Glencoe   050 032 2      12  11  2

St. Boni    000 000 0        0    3   6

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