Kettering Royals

The Kettering Royals will take the field for their first live outing of the season as they face-off against the South Dayton Slammers in a preseason scrimmage game.  Both squads are excited to finally take the field for some live practice.  The game will start at 7:00 PM, and will be played at Action Sports Complex.  A new facility for the Royals and the MVABL this season, so the Boys in Blue are excited to get their first look at the field.  There is plenty of seating so please come out and support your team.

The Royals held their first outdoor practice last Thursday night.  However as Batting Practice rolled around Royals Centerfielder Chris Jergens was leary to batting practice without an L screen, as a result of a recent SF Bay area pitcher placed in a coma after being hit in the head by a line drive,  The first batter hit without incident, but up next was Royals Assistant Coach Eric Jameson, who has hit his fair share of people standing in the field.  Eric hit the first 3-4 just fine, but connected on the next one to send a scorcher right back up the box.  In the evening light, the Royals skipper was unable to correctly judge the linedrive shot and instead took it off the hip Happy Gilmore style!    During the injury timeout all that could be heard coming from the outfield was "I told you so!!".  As there is no crying in baseball the Royals skipper retook the hill and finished the rest of batting practice without incident, a bit farther back that usual, but finished all the same.  All-in-all it was a great evening for a practice and those in attendance got a chance to hit & field some real baseballs for the first time this season.

 The Royals will continue their preseason tuneup with another practice and several scrimmages on the schedule.  With opening day just 3 weeks away the Royals hope to take advantage of all the nice days to work out the kinks.

As the preseason continues, the Royals attended the 2010 Draft on Sunday March 14th.  With a down year in 2009, they had the 2nd overall pick in 2010 and looked to the draft to help bolster the lineup.  The Royals selected former BGSU Club baller and current UD Law student DJ Swearingen.  Swearingen adds another arm to the pitching staff, and will also help out at secondbase.  The Royals are excited to have DJ and look forward to him joining the team.

 Over the next week the Royals will continue their practices before taking the field against their Opening Day opponent for a preseason scrimmage.  It will be an interesting matchup as both coaches will be able to size up their opponents as they prepare for there meeting on April 11th.  The Scrimmage will be held at the Action Sports Complex (ASC).  ASC will be hosting a number of 2010 MVABL games this season and the Royals are excited to test out the facilities.  The scrimmage is scheduled to begin at 2 PM so please come out and get your first look at some of the 2010 Royals.

With February behind us, and only 6 short weeks left before the first pitch is to be thrown, the Boys in Blue continue their offseason workouts.  Over the past 4 weeks the Royals have been working out the kinks.  Pitchers are working into season form, and hitters are working on their batters eye as the single-wheeled pitching machine has balls flying all over the place!  As the offseason moves into March there are only 4 Sundays left for practice before lacing them up for the real deal.  With only one scheduled cage session left, the Royals hope Mother Nature will melt away the rest of the snow so that they can get outside for some real practice.  The Royals will face off against the Miami Valley Cardinals in a preseason tune-up game on Sunday March 28th.  Game location and time are still to be determined.  So as the temperature hovers around freezing the Royals continue to heat up indoors in preparation for the 2010 Season, which is fast approaching!

As the rest of the team is trying to stay warm Tim Biendenharn (Univ of Dayton) and Brenden Regan (Xavier) traveled 1000 miles south to sunny Tampa, FL to play a little baseball.  The 2 Ohio teams are traveling all the way to Florida so that they can play a pair of games against each other.  In game 1 Regan and the Musketeers got the best of Biedenharn's Flyers as they won 7-6 in extra innings.  Regan recorded 12 strikeouts in the matchup, but says Biedenharn was able to muster a hit off of him.  The rest of the Royals wish them both the best of luck as their club seasons are getting underway.