The Rochester Royals begin the second round of the Class B, Section 2 amateur baseball playoffs tonight.
The third-seeded Royals will begin a best-of-three series at 7:30 p.m. at No. 2 Savage in the section semifinals. The winner of the series advances to the Class B state tournament. No. 1 Eagan and No. 5 Burnsville are playing in the other semifinal matchup.
"They're a pretty good ballclub," Royals co-manager and player Brian Nesssaid of Savage. The two teams split a pair of games during the season as Savage won 9-0 at home and the Royals won 9-3 in Rochester.
The Royals will be without Ness, who pitched a complete-game win in the first round against the Austin Blue Sox. Ness left for Nebraska on Saturday to start a new job.
"I won't be there to finish the rest of the season," he said. "It's a tough one to do. I would definitely come back, but it's a nine-hour drive."
ADVERTISEMENT
Drew Block, the Royals other co-manager, said Matt Meyerwill start tonight's series opener against Savage. The left-handed Meyer was pitching Triple-A ball just a couple of years ago as a reliever, but he has battled arm troubles this year.
"I guess it's as good as it's going to get," Block said of Meyer's arm.
The second game of the series will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Mayo Field and the third game, if necessary, is at 7:30 p.m. Friday back in Savage. Josh Conleyis likely to start the second game for the Royals and Brad Pfefferwill be a key pitcher out of the bullpen.
———
Rochester's Alex Belchgot to throw out an honorary first pitch at Target Field on Saturday night prior to the Minnesota Twins taking on the Cleveland Indians.
Belch will be a junior at John Marshall this fall. He is a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher who had the most strikeouts of any any varsity pitcher from the three Rochester public schools during the 2014 spring season.
———
Caledonia's Isaac Fruechtereceived some extended playing time with the Minnesota Vikings in their second preseason game on Saturday at home against Tampa Bay.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fruechte is an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota and he was back at his old home stadium, TCF Bank Stadium. Fruechte, in an uphill battle to earn a spot as a wide receiver with the Vikings, had two catches for 16 yards in a 26-16 win over the Bucs.
Fruechte did not have any catches in the first preseason game. He made one grab, but was out of bounds on the play.
———
The Coon Rapids Little League team made it all the way to the region finals before seeing its season come to and end this past week, just one win away from a berth in the Little League World Series.
The Coon Rapids team honored John Marshall grad Jim Scheidduring its run. The team players wore patches on their uniforms in remembrance of Scheid, who died less than a month ago after a battle with cancer.
Scheid played football, hockey and baseball at John Marshall and was a 1976 grad. He was very active in youth baseball in Coon Rapids over the years as a adult.
———
Nick Symmonds, a world-class runner for the United States in the 800-meter run, has a Rochester connection. He is the son of Jeff Symmonds, who was raised in Rochester and graduated from Mayo High School in 1969.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jeff's parents, and Nick's grandparents, are Dickand Dege Symmonds, who still live in Rochester.
Nick Symmonds, 31, was recently left off the U.S. World Championship team despite qualifying in June. He was left off the squad because he refused to sign a contract that USA Track and Field requires of all athletes before they're placed on the team.
He didn't sign because he believes sponsor Nike has too much power on what athletes can and can't wear at major events, which may hinder sponsorship deals down the road.
