May 20 -- Ben Stanczyk believed he had a lot more good innings left. Instead, he's moving on with life after baseball.

Stanczyk, the first active La Crosse Loggers player to turn pro, was released by the Milwaukee Brewers' Class AA Huntsville affiliate on May 2. He had been with the organization for three full seasons and parts of two more after signing a free-agent contract on July 28, 2004.

"It was a great experience," Stanczyk said Tuesday. "It was my dream job to play baseball, and I'm pretty fortunate that I got that opportunity to play for as long as I did. I have no regrets and I played as had as I could."

Eddie Camacho, who pitched for La Crosse in 2003, became the first player affiliated with the Loggers to join the pro ranks in June 2004, when the Mets signed him as a free-agent. Camacho is in Class AA Binghamton.

Stanczyk, a right-handed pitcher/third baseman, was the Loggers' first ace pitcher. He played in 2003-04 and still holds six career records, including ERA (1.75), wins (11), strikeouts (179), complete games (six), WHIP (1.00) and strikeouts per 9 innings (10.79).

The Brewers finally noticed, and added Stanczyk just as the Loggers were preparing for their first and only playoff series.

Stanczyk moved up the ladder from Rookie ball to Class AA. He was 0-1 with a 10.24 ERA in six appearances this season at Huntsville. In five minor league seasons (145 games), Stanczyk was 13-10 with a 3.93 ERA and 16 saves. He struck out 240 batters with 89 walks in 259 innings.

He said it came as a shock at first when he was released. Now, he's focusing on starting a career in accounting and planning his wedding in December.

"It's one of those things, it happens and you have to move on," Stanczyk said. "It's tough to swallow but I'm happy with how things worked out."