Congratulations to Metro Senior Legion Champs NP Dodge Wildcats (10-0) and Metro Junior Legion Champs Associated Fire Protection (10-0) 

Frerich's Career to be Honored at July 11 Event

July 5, 2009

The long and storied career of Elkhorn head coach Jerry Frerichs will be honored during a special ceremony Saturday, July 11 that will precede Post 211's 6:00 home game against KB Building Services (Westside) at Elkhorn Legion Field.   Coach Frerichs will retire at the end of this season from his positions as  head coach of Elkhorn Post 211 Senior Legion and Elkhorn High School varsity head coach, according to Elkhorn Legion President Kevin Giesselmann.  The 2009 season marks Frerich's thirty-fifth season coaching baseball. 

 

Jerry Frerichs Elkhorn Head Coach

Frerichs, a former Wayne State ballplayer, arrived in Elkhorn in 1977 and restarted the Elkhorn Legion baseball program that year.  Prior to that, Elkhorn players participated in a joint program with Arlington.  The fledgling Elkhorn program played at what is now known as Antler Field.  Seeing the need for a better facility for the program, Coach Frerichs began grooming some pasture land adjacent to the City Park into what is now Legion Field -- one of the nicest baseball facilities in the state.  To honor Frerich's long and successful career and dedication to the Elkhorn program, representatives of the Omaha City Council will be present at the ceremony to read an official proclamation renaming Legion Field as "Frerichs Legion Field."

Under Coach Frerichs' leadership, the Elkhorn High School team has appeared in the State Tournament four of the past six years, winning back-to-back state championships in 2007 and 2008.  The Post 211 Senior Legion team won Class B state championships in 2000, 1995 and 1988 and finished state runner-up four times -- 1992, 1990, 1989 and 1987.  Frerichs was honored as the 2008 Spring Season Varsity Coach of the Year by the Nebraska Baseball Coaches Association and was selected Head Coach of the 2009 Scotty Orcutt All-Star Team.

The ceremony will start at 5:30, and all Elkhorn baseball alumni are encouraged to attend and arrive at 5:15 to be recognized.  Elkhorn youth baseball players are also asked to arrive by 5:15. 

Top:  A scene from the Fifty-somethingth Annual J.E. George 4th of July Parade near Memorial Park in Omaha.  Bottom:  Pinnacle Bank (LSW) catcher John Mulgrue prepares to tag Ideal Images Bulldogs  (Burke) shortstop Taylor Anderson at the plate in the Mike Peterson Tournament in Lincoln on Friday.  Anderson broke for home on a 1st & 3rd play when  the baserunner from first attempted to steal second.  Anderson was out on the play, but the Bulldogs went on to claim a 4-3 win over the Silver Hawks. Nate Quadhamer put the Dawgs ahead for good with a two-run single in the top of the sixth.  Action continues in the "Pete" today and tomorrow.  Photo by Terry Anderson.

Top Seeds For Metro Area Tournaments Set

July 3, 2009

Although the official Metro League seeding meeting won't take place until next Wednesday, July 8th, it appears that the teams that will be the number one seeds in the four Metro Junior Legion Area Tournaments and the four Senior Legion Area Tournaments have now been determined.  Based on our unofficial compilation of Metro League win-loss records, NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West) has earned the #1 overall seed in the Seniors division with a perfect 10-0 record.  In the Juniors Division Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) has also finished league play with a spotless league record of ten wins and no losses.  The Junior Bluejays (Prep) are 9-0 with one game remaining to be played tonight against the Skutt SkyHawks (4-5).  If the Bluejays win tonight to finish 10-0, a tie-breaker based on Run Differential (runs scored - runs allowed over the ten game league schedule) will be used to determine which of the two 10-0 Junior Legion teams will be the overall number one seed in the Metro Areas.

Millard West Cats (8-1) and KB Building Services (8-2) are the other two top seeds among the juniors, but the order of their finish, along with that of the Junior Bluejays, will be determined by the outcome of the Prep game tonight and the Cats' one remaining game against Stacey Dental (4-4) on Tuesday, July 7.  If the Cats defeat Stacey Dental to go to 9-1, they will could earn either the 2nd or 3rd seed depending on the outcome of the Prep game.  A Cats' win coupled with a Prep loss would leave both teams at 9-1 without having played head-to-head.  The Run Differential tie-breaker would be employed to resolve the tie.  If the Cats lose and finish 8-2, the Run Differential tie-breaker will be used to break the tie between the Cats and Westside for the #3 overall seed.

In the Senior Division, Oakview Construction (Skutt) pulled off a big 3-1 win over KB Building Services Wednesday night to claim a #1 seed.  Recent UNO signee Ryan Bolt threw a two-hitter for Oakview with eight strikeouts.  Spencer Masching had the big hit for Oakview, a two-run base hit in the fourth.  Jory Goldstrom accounted for the only Westside run with a solo homer.  The win left the two teams tied at 7-3 with Oakview earning priority with the head-to-head win. 

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) and Tom Hansen Construction (Bellevue East) both finished league play with nine wins and one loss.  AFP earns the #2 overall seed by virtue of a 1-0 win over the Bellevue East team on June 3rd.  The four  top seeds in the Senior Division finished as follows:  #1 NP Dodge (10-0),  #2 Associated Fire Protection (9-1),  #3 Tom Hansen Construction (9-1) and #4 Oakview Construction (7-3). 

American Legion Athletic Committee Chairman Don Kiviniemi, Jr. announced yesterday to coaches in the League that Run Differential will be used as the second tie-breaker where head-to-head results are unavailable.  For the past three years the Metro League has used aggregate opponent win-percentage as the second tie-breaker.   During that period, the Seniors and Juniors each played a twelve-game schedule consisting of ten games against opponents within their division plus two games against opponents from the other division.  Each team had a unique mix of twelve opponents, resulting in a unique opponent win-percentage for each that could be used as a tie-breaker.

This year, due to the shortening of the Legion season by one week, the twelve-game schedule has been  reduced to ten games with all of those games being played against opponents in the same division.  As a result, the aggregate opponent win-loss percentage for every team at the end of the season will now be .500, which means that OWP is no longer an effective tie-breaker.  The lack of a second-tie breaker was not anticipated prior to the beginning of the season and was not recognized as an issue until league play was underway.  After considering various alternatives, Mr. Kiviniemi determined yesterday that using Run Differential as a substitute tie-breaker provides a reasonable solution to the issue.

At the seeding meeting next Wednesday, the official league results will be announced, and the twenty-one Senior teams and twenty-two Junior teams in the Metro Areas will be ranked in order based on their league records and using the two tie-breakers.  After the ranking is accomplished, the teams will then be assigned to Area Tournaments using a serpentine method.  Site host teams for each tournament have already been assigned, and under the league procedures, a site host always plays in the tournament that it is hosting.  So if the serpentine method causes two or more site hosts to be placed in the same tournament, a method known as "horizontal swapping" is used to re-assign the lower-ranked site host to another tournament. 

Area Tournaments will take place at the following locations July 15-20: 

| Current Metro League Senior Legion Standings | Current Metro League Junior Legion Standings |

Team Nebraska Finishes Second in Oklahoma Tourney

June 30, 2009

Team Nebraska:  (back row, l - r) Head Coach Bill Olson, Taylor Anderson, Aiden Hook, Scott Bates, David Sutton, Ryan Herdman, Kyle Honeycutt, Assistant Coach Roland Kenny;  (front row, l-r) Tanner Lubach, Matt Sich, Kyle Kubat, Taylor Doggett, Grant Kay, Austin Groth.  (Not pictured:  Adam Morey)  Photo by Bev Kubat.

Hall of Fame Coach Bill Olson and his Team Nebraska, composed of underclassmen from Eastern Nebraska, recently returned from the prestigious Sun Belt Class Tournament in Edmond, Oklahoma with the runner up trophy.  The team lost  in the championship game to a Texas team that they had defeated earlier in pool play.  The tournament was held from June 4 - 8. 

It was fourth time in the past five years that the former Omaha Northwest coach has taken a team from Nebraska to the tournament.  The players are all juniors-to-be, except for Austin Groth of South Sioux City who is a rising sophomore.  Groth was also the only player from outside of Omaha or LIncoln.  Players were nominated for participation by area high school coaches.

Members of the team were:  Kyle Kubat, Aiden Hook and Scott Bates from Creighton Prep, Tanner Lubach, Taylor Anderson and Taylor Doggett from Lincoln Southwest, Matt Sich and Kyle Honeycutt from Millard South, Ryan Herdman and David Kay from Ralston, Adam Morey from Millard West, David Sutton from Lincoln Southeast and Groth.  Coach Olson was assisted by Roland Kenny. 

Papio South Looking for July 2nd Game

June 26, 2009

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) Senior Legion is looking to add a game to its schedule on July 2nd.  The Titans already have a game at 8:00pm but are looking to add a game earlier in the day in order to put together a double-header prior to taking the 4th of July weekend off.  The Titans are willing to travel up to an hour away to get in a second game.  If interested, contact Coach Bill Lynam. 

Junior Bluejays Clinch Share of Metro League American Division Championship

June 25, 2009, updated June 26

The Junior Bluejays (Creighton Prep) Junior Legion team clinched at least a share of the American Division Championship in the Metro League with an 11-0 win over Nebraska Medical Center Bears Tuesday night.  The win improved the Junior Bluejays' league record to a perfect 8-0 with two games remaining in league action.  The Prep team is 22-3 overall for the summer.

According to information reported to BaseballNebraska.com to date, there are four two-loss teams in the American Division with a chance of finishing at 8-2:  KB Building Services (6-2), Dodge Wildcats (5-2), PrimeTime Patriots (3-2) and Skutt SkyHawks (2-2).  All but the SkyHawks have already lost to the Bluejays and will be competing for a second-place division finish.  The SkyHawks and Bluejays will make up a May 26 rainout on July 3rd. 

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) leads the Metro League Juniors National Division with a 7-0 record and is 19-3 overall.  Papio Post 32 (4-1), Millard West Cats (2-1) and Deeb Mustangs (2-1) all have one loss based on results reported to date. 

Like the Senior Legion Metro League, the Juniors are playing a league schedule of ten games against division opponents.  Following the completion of league play, the each team will be ranked within its eleven-team division and seeded into one of four Area tournaments at a seeding meeting to be held July 8. 

Coaches are encouraged to review the recently published Metro League Juniors standings and to report any missing scores to admin@metropreps.com. 

In Metro League Senior Legion standings, the NP Dodge Wildcats have clinched the American Division with a perfect 9-0 record (19-2 overall) with one game remaining.  KB Building Services (Westside) is alone in second place with a 7-2 record, and Oakview Construction (Skutt) is 6-3 following a loss to PrimeTime Patriots Wednesday evening.  The Warriors and SkyHawks face off on July 1. 

Meanwhile in the National Division, Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) is atop the standings at 7-1 with Tom Hansen Construction also reporting only one loss at 4-1.

In the Nebraska Reserve Baseball League, the Omaha Cardinals handed the Bluejays (Prep) their first league loss of the season last night by a score of 9-8.  The Bluejays remain atop the NRBL standings with a 7-1 record.  NRBL play concludes by July 16.