WILMINGTON — Thirteen-year Major League Baseball vet Craig Stammen and National Baseball Hall of Fame honoree Hal McCoy will headline Wilmington College baseball’s First Pitch Cook-Off and Dinner Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Clinton County Fairgrounds Expo Center.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar and silent auction featuring a signed Andre Dawson Cubs jersey and other baseball memorabilia as well as a pair of vacation getaways.

Local chefs from Tin Cap and Wilmington College, including head volleyball coach Sophie Windover and softball coach Beth Floyd, among others, will serve their favorite food dishes in a quest for the golden spatula that goes to the favorite chef and food with the biggest tip jar. Menu items include barbecue sliders, meatballs and pulled chicken, to name a few.

Tickets are $75 per person. Tables of eight are $500. Tickets can be purchased at https://wilmingtoncollege.wufoo.com/forms/kai4y9n0lkfyoy/.

Email Wilmington College head baseball coach Tony Vittorio at [email protected] for more information, or if interested in being a sponsor, chef or donating a silent auction item.

Stammen, currently a free agent who has pitched the last six seasons with the San Diego Padres, earned the club’s nomination for Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award given annually to a player who demonstrates the values Roberto Clemente displayed in his commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others. In 2020, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Foundation gave Stammen its Bob Feller Act of Valor Award that recognizes the impact and selfless good works of those in Major League Baseball.

McCoy is a former longtime beat writer for the Dayton Daily News covering the Cincinnati Reds. The National Baseball Hall of Fame honored him in 2002 with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award. McCoy is a member of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame and the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Quakers baseball team is coming off its first winning season since 2005, during which it set four program records and finished ninth in the nation in batting average.