Please read and review the 2010 Welcome Letter and Registration Information carefully.  You may find it helpful to print the information for use during your on-line registration session and for later reference.  After reading the registration information, please click on the following link to launch the On-line Registration for the 2010 HMBR Season.  A late fee is applied after February 15, 2010.

Questions?  Please contact Anne McGraw, HMBR Registration Coordinator, at registration@hopkinsbaseball.com.

TO ALL HOPKINS-MINNETONKA BABE RUTH PARTICIPANTS AND FUTURE PLAYERS:

All coaches and players are reminded that Hopkins/Minnetonka Babe Ruth baseball will continue the tradition of winter clinics during the off-season. We offer two separate clinics during January and February, each with a different emphasis. Many players will be doing BOTH clinics. Here is an early summary:

Lerner Clinics: First, Hopkins Baseball Head Coach Neil Lerner leads clinics including three Friday nights at Player's Only batting cages. These will be 7-9 PM, January 29, February 12 and February 26. His clinics also include two indoor sessions on other drills outside of the batting facility, tentatively set at WJH for 5-9 PM on February 6 and 12-4:30 PM February 20. This is a great way to increase skills and meet Neil and his assistant coaches, Pat Berger and Jon Gallop. In addition, at least 7 varsity players will be part of the staff to help and instruct the Babe Ruth players. The Lerner Clinics will give every player that attends the opportunity for top level instruction as well as numerous reps in the Player's Only batting cages. More detail can be found on the Camps/Clinics webpage.

CLINIC SESSIONS 1,3,5: OFFENSIVE SKILLS
LOCATION: PLAYER’S ONLY
Visit www.playersonlyinc.com for directions
Friday Jan 29, 2010: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m
Friday Feb 12, 2010: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m
Friday Feb 26, 2010: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Through Drills, station work, live batting practice, time in the batting cage, as well as “batting cage games” players will have the opportunity to improve their hitting technique and to get ready for tryouts and the upcoming season.
These sessions will include work on the following:

Technique (grip, stance, contact point, bat path, follow through and balance)

Mental Approach to hitting

Situational Hitting

Drills players can use to correct swing faults

Bunting Technique (base hit and sacrifice bunts)

CLINIC SESSION 2: DEFENSIVE SKILLS
LOCATION: WJH ACTIVITY CENTER
Saturday, February 6, 2010
15 year olds (League Age*): 5:00 – 6:20 p.m.
14 year olds (League Age*): 6:20 – 7:40 p.m.
13 year olds (League Age*): 7:40 – 9:00 p.m.
Players will work on the defensive fundamentals of the game at this session. Proper throwing technique, along with the fundamentals of infield and outfield play will be stressed.
This session will include the following:

Throwing technique (Grip, Arm Circle, Long Toss)

Fielding all types of ground balls (Backhands, Forehands, Slow-rollers, etc.)

Proper infield footwork, including turning double plays

Outfield work (Catching fly balls, communication, outfield priority and hitting the cut-off man)

CLINIC SESSION 4: POSITION SPECIFIC TRAINING LOCATION: WJH ACTIVITY STRUCTURE
Saturday February 20, 2010
15 year olds (League Age*): 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
14 year olds (League Age*): 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
13 year olds (League Age*): 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
This session is designed for all HMBR players to learn more than just the fundamentals of their position. Players will be divided into groups based on the position they play or want to learn more about.
Players will learn the “little things” to make themselves better at their specific position.


Winter Gym: Second, we will also sponsor "winter gym" which is normally 7 or so consecutive Sundays in January and February 1-3PM at the West Junior High Activity Center. These are run by Jon Gallop, Hopkins High School assistant coach (sophomore baseball coach). The Winter Gym time is a great way to work on baseball skills, keep in baseball shape, have fun, and prepare for Babe Ruth tryouts in early March. More detail can be found on the Camps/Clinics webpage.

To register for one or both of these clinics, please follow this link to our online Clinic Registration webpage.

HMBR is looking for coaches at all ages (13, 14, 15) and at all levels (House, Tournament, Travel) for the 2010 baseball season.  In addition to soliciting coaching volunteers during the registration process which will still continue, we are proactively kicking-off the recruiting process now.  If you, or someone you know, is interested please contact Jeff Keiser via email with the level and age you are interested in coaching at baberuthinfo@hopkinsbaseball.com.  Questions can be directed to President - Ned Ostenso (baberuthpresident@hopkinsbaseball.com), Vice-President - Jeff Keiser (baberuthinfo@hopkinsbaseball.com), Prep League Coordinator - Granville Harlow (prepcoordinator@hopkinsbaseball.com), or Majors Coordinator - Doug Weissman (majorscoordinator@hopkinsbaseball.com).

Through the generous donation from SUPERVALU, HMBR was able to install a new scoreboard at Guilliam Field this past weekend.  We hope this new addition will improve your baseball experience this season and for years to come.

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The 13A Tournament Team to 1st place in the 8-team tournament held in Rosemount on May 9th & 10. They played 3 games on Saturday and found themselves in the Championship game on Sunday where they defeated East view. Great job Coach Dolan and crew. GO BIG BLUE!!!

Hopkins 15AAA Travel captured the Blaine Tournament with a championship game win over St. Croix Valley 2-1. The game featured excellent defense by Andy Wicklund, Tanner Holmquist and Josh Romportl, whom all had highlight diving catches. Jay Homan pitched 4 shutout innnings, with Tim Shannon completing the game. Jay Homan also had the game winning hit in bottom of the seventh to give us the 2-1 victory. Congrats to all the players for a total team effort, and a birth to the Gopher State Tournament.

The 15AA team took 2nd place in the Blaine Tournament and qualified for State. Hot hitters and strong pitching performances from (8) different pitchers proved to be a winning combination. This team went 3-1 on the weekend defeating Brooklyn Park and Mahtomedi on a cold blustery Saturday. They went on to defeat Champlin Park on Sunday morning before eventually losing to Mahtomedi in the championship game. The highlight of the weekend was the 14-13 victory over a strong Mahtomedi club on Saturday afternoon. Hopkins came back and scored five runs in the top of the last inning to take the lead and held on to win with the tying run on third to end the game. There were great contributions by all over the weekend.

The 14/15A tournament team played not so gracious hosts this past week end by capturing first place honors in their own Hopkins tournament.   The squad completed a perfect 4-0 record by beating St. Louis Park, Lakeville, Robbinsdale in the semi-final game and Inver Grove Heights in the championship game.  The squad had two close contests versus St. Louis Park and Robbinsdale prevailing in one run affairs against each.  Both St. Louis Park and Robbinsdale mounted furious comebacks that the Hopkins nine withstood.  The outcome of each of these games was determined in the bottom of the seventh inning. Against  St. Louis Park,  the blue caps stranded SLP's opposing runners on second and third to hold on for a 9-8 victory.  Against Robbinsdale, after leading most of the game Hopkins fell behind by a run in the top of the seventh only to rally by plating two in the bottom on the seventh to snatch the victory 16-15.  The team also had strong outings against Lakeville and Inver Grove Heights with the pitching staff hurling shut outs in both tilts.  Strong pitching and timely hitting accompanied by tight defense in the field were the keys to the week end success.  Next up is the Waconia tournament the week end of June 5th.  The tournament victory also qualified the 14/15A team for the state tournament to be held the week end of July 17th. 

The 14AA Tournament Team won first place in the USSSA Mid Summer Challenge in Coon Rapids June 5-7.  The team won 5 of 6 games to win the tournament, with 5 of the games played on Sunday due to rain delays. The team was on the field for warm ups at 7:15AM on Sunday, and left the field at about 9:00PM with the 1st place trophy.  All team members contributed to the state tournament qualifying effort by playing well, but an important part of the team's success was the entire team's ability to stay focused throughout a long, cold, and wet day.  Spring Lake Park, two Osseo/Maple Grove teams, and Shoreview were defeated to reach the championship game, in which Hopkins beat North St. Paul to counter an earlier loss to the Polars.