Besch hired as Director of Outside Ticket Sales, Serwe promoted to Inside Sales and Operations Manager

For the City-Times

The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters announced today that Darren Besch has joined the front office as the team’s Director of Outside Ticket Sales.  The team also announced that Jake Serwe, who has been with the team since 2012, has been named Inside Sales and Operations Manager.

Besch joins the Rafters for his first season as the Director of Outside Ticket Sales.  In his new role, he will work with local business leaders to create business development and client and employee entertainment solutions.  Prior to the Rafters, Besch worked as a Sales Executive with Princeton Group, Inc., a sports marketing firm in Middleton, Wisconsin.  He has also spent the previous four years as an assistant coach with the Madison LaFollette High School baseball team.  Besch received his bachelor’s degrees in Biology and History from Edgewood College in May 2010.  During college Besch spent five seasons as a member of the Edgewood baseball team, helping the team to two conference titles.  He is a native of Madison, Wisconsin.

Serwe returns for his third season with the Rafters and first as Inside Sales and Operations Manager.  He spent the summer of 2012 as an operations intern and head groundskeeper for the team before most recently serving as Ticket Sales and Box Office Manager last summer.  In his new role, Serwe will work with Rafters season ticket package holders, small businesses, and local non-profit organizations, including churches and little leagues, to find fundraising and group outing solutions.  He will also manage the Incourage Community Foundation Lil’ Rafters Reading Program as well as Rafters ballpark operations during the summer.  Serwe began his career in baseball as an intern with the Omaha Storm Chasers of the Pacific Coast League in 2011.  He received his bachelor’s degree in Sport Management from UW-Parkside in December 2012 and is a native of Brownsville, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind.

A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including MLB All-Stars Max Scherzer (DET), Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live and free of charge via the Northwoods League YouTube channel.  For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com.