Jason Kuerschner took over the team in 2002 and his first year there started the season with only five players so he recruited every one he could, including some players that never played high school baseball.  They didn't win a game for two and one half years.  In 2004 they beat Hamburg for their first win in that span.  Now because they have a much lower turnover in players they are starting to be more competitive.

"I believe that we are moving in the right direction, not only on the field but off it as well as the community is starting to come back and support us not only at the games but for our fundraising activities," said Kuerschner, 37.  He hopes that things will continue to improve even though he has decided to step down as manager to spend more time with his family and four children.

The new co-managers will be Kyle Evenski and Andrew Lein.  Kyle will be in his third year with the team as he started his career with the Kingston Kings.  In his first two seasons he was the Cologne MVP (2008) and Best Pitcher (2009).  Andy has been with the team since 1999 except for a few years in the early 2000's while he was off at College and didn't come home for the summers.

Kuerschner and Craig Pexa, another Hollander supporter weren't standing still this fall.   They worked on a field improvement project that they had been pursuing for three years.  They obtained some old Milwaukee County Stadium seats and installed them in their concrete grandstand, they received City Council approval to build a new outfield fence and they are also adding a new pressbox.

The seats were free, however, volunteers had to pick them up in Apple Valley and bring them to Cologne.  The City Council agreed to pay for the cost of the new wood fence ($10,500) at their October 5^th meeting and it was installed with volunteer labor, finishing up over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Their old chain link fence had been built in 1969.  It was only four feet high and in very rough shape.  Now the wood fence starts at six feet high in the left field corner and goes to eight feet high before center field and stays that way to the right field corner.

They still have a ways to go to finish the pressbox, but Kuerschner says that they will have it done before the 2010 season starts.  He was just re-elected as the Vice-President of the Crow River South League and says that he will stay on as a Cologne board member and help the new managers out with anything they need.

"Our goal is to be able to host a region," said Kuerschner.  The Crow River South is up to host this year and he believes that Cologne would be a good host if the Crow is still together in their own region.

To see more pictures of the Cologne projects go to : http://www.ballcharts.com/colognehollanders.