Kettering Royals

Wednesday May 30th was the Royals Skipper's birthday, but he will now share this with some new members to the Royals Family.  Chris Jergens and his wife welcomed their new twins to the world!  Born just a few weeks early, but Archibald Graham and his sister Kinsella Rae were born without any complications.

 Congratulations to the Jergens family!!!

After last  weekend was washed out by Mother Nature, and the potential threat of some late week threat this weekends game against the Fairborn Athletics has been moved to Fairborn High School.  This is good news as the opening weekend of games were able to play at the High School despite the rain.  The Royals look forward to their first matchup with the A's this weekend.  Frank Burgos and Jason Holmberg will be the starters this weekend and will need to keep the ball down in the zone as the A's are notorious for making pitchers pay for keeping the ball up.

Game 1 will start at 1:00 PM, be sure to show up early to get a seat as the Royals and A's battle it out to break the 3-way tie for the lead in the Buckeye division.

While the Boys in Blue and the rest of the MVABL kicked off the 2012 season this past weekend, Kettering Royals Skipper Mark Franklin found himself in the hometowm of the MLB club for which they got their name.  Franklin was in Kansas City to support his daughter Haley and her Tops All-Star Cheer team as they competed in the US Cheer Finals, but lucky for him the Royals happened to home for their Opening Home Stand against the Cleveland Indians.  Surrounded by a massive threat of Tornados, Franklin braved the storms with some other Dad's for a chance to watch an MLB game.  This was their first, and probably only, trip to Kauffman Stadium.  The Royals and Indians did put on a good show for all in attendance.  Over the course of the game there were 2 bean balls, 2 bench clearing brawls, 2 ejections, 3 home runs, 1 extra inning, and a combined 20 runs scored!  We also got to help the Royals celebrate their mascot Sluggerrrr's birthday!!  Franklin was lucky enough to snag a quick picture with Sluggerrr while he roamed the stadium entertaining the fans.

Despite the threat of being whisked away by a tornado, it was a great night and chance to tour a beautiful stadium highlighted by the largest, most beautiful high definition scoreboard he'd ever seen.  When installed in 2009 it was the largest HD screen measuring 104" tall x 84" wide.  This has since been trumped by the screens installed for the Beijing Olympics and at Cowboys Stadium, but for it's size and crown shape it was pretty amazing.  If your ever in KC when the Royals are in town you should try to catch a game and enjoy this great stadium.

The Royals played their Opening Night game Sunday against the new expansion team, the Fairborn Fury.  Jason Holmberg started on the hill and after a rocky start he got loosened up and threw 6 solid innings.  Holmberg recorded 7 K's on the night, before the Royals brought in Kevin Reynolds to wrap-up the game.  The Fury gave the Royals a good game, but eventually the Boys in Blue got their bats and legs warmed up and were able to run away with the game winning 8-3.

Up next for the Royals are the Shockers who were knocked off 13-8 in their rematch with the Mariners.  The game will be played at Brandt Park in Springboro at noon.  Come out for this great battle of Offenses and cheer the Royals onto victory.

The Royals wrapped up the 2012 Preseason 2 weeks ago on a high note.  The Boys in Blue were 2-0-1 in their 3 scrimmages.  They kicked off their preseason with the help of the Miami Valley Thunder in a fun game against the Kettering Firebirds.  The game was called due to thunder, but not before Tim Peffley was able to launch a 2-out, bases loaded ball double to the fence to clear the bases and end the game in a 6-6 tie.  Week 2 saw the Royals faceoff against those same Thunder that had helped them against the Firebirds.  After some field issues the game got under way at Action Sports.  It wasn't too exciting as pitching was truly dominating the contest.  Holmberg, Reynolds, Jameson, and Regan all had great outings off the mound as the Royals were able to hold off and defeat the Thunder 3-1.  The Royals final matchup was a rematch of the MVABL quarterfinals versus the Dayton Rangers.  The Royals came to play and scored early and often in the workout.  Pitching as again good as Holmberg, Reynolds, Jameson, Stafford, and Peffley held the Rangers offense to only 3 runs.  At the plate for the Royals Jergens and rookie Brad Koopman lauched homeruns to highlight the day as the Royals won easily 18-3.

It was a great preseason for the Royals as the look forward to the start of the 2012 season.