The Rochester Royals have yet to lose a Southern Minny League baseball game this season.

Tuesday, July 13, 1999

The Rochester Royals have yet to lose a Southern Minny League baseball game this season.

They showed why Friday night.

The visiting Royals hammered 17 hits while playing errorless defense to hand the Albert Lea Colonels a 14-3, seven-inning setback at Hayek Field.

According to manager Bill Trygstad, the young Colonels simply let it get out of hand too early against a talented Rochester crew.

&uot;The guys did not start out well,&uot; said Trygstad. &uot;Being a young team, you sometimes let that get to you. We just didn’t come back. It’s a learning experience.&uot;

The offensive fireworks started early for the Royals, who plated five runs in the top of the first inning and three more in the second.

Shawn Leimbeck, the Big Eight batting champion two years ago at Iowa State, hit a three-run home run in the first inning and went on to add two doubles while driving in five runs.

&uot;He had a good night for them,&uot; said Trygstad.

The Royals went on to add one run in the fourth and put it away with five in the fifth.

Rochester finished with four home runs and five doubles.

While Trygstad wouldn’t say Rochester is the best hitting team the Colonels have faced this summer, he said the Royals are among the best.

&uot;They hit the ball well,&uot; said Trygstad. &uot;Waseca hit the ball good too. There are a lot of good hitting teams around. It’s pitching that makes the big difference. We’re a good hitting team too, but we didn’t show it tonight.&uot;

All three of the Colonels’ runs came in the seventh – when Leimbeck relieved the starting pitcher. He walked Buck Nelson and Mike Piechowski before Lon Sorenson hit a three-run homer, marking the end of Leimbeck’s mound duty.

Matt Trygstad went 3-for-3 with a walk to lead the Colonels’ offense. Sorenson, Ryan Wangen and Brady Berg had one hit apiece.

The Colonels had plenty of chances, according to Bill Trygstad, stranding two baserunners in the first inning and loading the bases with no outs while being held scoreless in the sixth.

The loss dropped the Colonels’ record to 0-6 in the league and 3-8 overall. Rochester ran its record to 9-0 in the league and 16-3 for the season.

The Colonels were scheduled to play a nonleague game at Morristown Saturday. They return to Hayek Field tonight to face an always-strong Mankato team in a Southern Minny League game at 7 p.m.