Host families stay connected with baseball players well after their summers in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD – Eric and Suzanne Kuehl were expecting a third boy when they started discussing becoming a host family for a St. Cloud Rox player for the 2017 Northwoods League season.

Scott Schreiner, a co-owner and general manger for the Rox, offers the same opinion you could hear around the entire collegiate summer league:

“We couldn’t really be doing this without those hosts that bring players into their homes for almost three months.

“In almost every case, there becomes a bond between player and the hosts that lasts well beyond their time here.”

The Kuehls had a roomy home two miles from Joe Faber Field. The first player the family hosted was Michael Busch, a lefthanded slugger from Simley High School and the University of North Carolina.

“Just a terrific person,” Eric said Friday. “And so great with our boys. When you’re hosts, you get to know their family, too.

“And you see how hard a player works at it, too. Michael was dealing with a wrist injury he had at North Carolina. He worked so hard to recover from that, it was phenomenal. There’s a game every day, but he worked out every morning, lifting, all the extra training.”

“We texted Michael and said, ‘We’ll be at the game; maybe we can say hello after the game.’ Michael texted back: ‘Get rid of your tickets. I’ll get some for you.’ They were right behind the plate.

“And then he invited us come on the field for a few minutes before the game. What a thrill, especially for the boys.”

The Kuehls have become annual hosts for a Rox player — some stars, some players struggling for success in the league.

They hosted infielder Brice Matthews, from Houston and the University of Nebraska, for two summers, in 2021 and ’22. Eric talks as effusively about Matthews as a character person as he does Busch.

Matthews had back-to-back outstanding seasons for the Rox, vaulting him into position to be a first-round draft choice for his hometown Astros in 2023.