Metros Classic begins today
By CRAIG HAUPERT, Staff Writer chaupert@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: June 13, 2008
American Legion Baseball teams from all over the state will be converging on Minot today for the Minot Metros Classic.
The jamboree-format event will take place today, Saturday and Sunday at Corbett Field, the home of the Class B Minot Metros.
Due to rained-out games Wednesday and Thursday, the Metros have yet to play a game at Corbett Field. Weather permitting, the Metros will have their home opener at 6 p.m. today against the Grand Forks Blues — a team they beat 13-7 last week in Fargo.
On Saturday, the Metros play the Bismarck Reps and on Sunday they play defending Section 5 champion Burlington.
Eight teams in all will be competing at the Classic, including Bottineau, the Mandan A’s, Minot Senior Babe Ruth and Williston Senior Babe Ruth. The Classic opens up with Burlington versus Bismarck at 1 p.m, followed by Williston versus Bottineau at 3:30 p.m.
“This is an opportunity for us to get some games under our belt,” Metros head coach Travis Smith said. “It’s also a chance for teams to watch and play against teams that aren’t in their section.”
Corbett Field is the site of this year’s Central Plains Tournament, so these eight teams will get a sneak peek of it while hoping to return later this year.
“All the teams get a chance to play on a beautiful baseball field,” Smith said. “Corbett is a great place to play baseball. It really has a great baseball feel to it.”
The Metros (2-2) are coming off a split of four games at the Fargo Tournament last weekend in which they averaged 4.5 hits per game. In last year’s Classic, the Metros defeated Garrison-Max-Turtle Lake-Mercer and dropped a pair of close games to Grand Forks and Bottineau.
