The Challenge is set; Austin Greyhounds will host annual tournament this week
Published 9:32 pm Tuesday, June 21, 2016
- The Austin Blue Sox Mirangelo Muller slides into third for a triple against Westmont, Illinois last year.
The Austin Greyhounds are making a slight change as they host their 12th annual SpamTown Challenge this week at Marcusen Park.
Instead of the usual four pools of teams, this year’s tourney will have three pools and a total of 12 teams. The Hounds also used this format in 2006.
The winners of each pool and a wild card winner will all advance to Sunday’s semifinals. The wild card team will be selected based on a number of tie-breakers which include total wins, runs allowed and run differential.
“We wanted to strengthen the tournament. We also wanted to create more excitement,” Hounds manager John Frein said. “Every game will have weight, because you can still advance without winning your pool. Hopefully those last three games will have a lot of significance. It could go down to the wire.”
This year’s challenge will feature some familiar squads like the Minnetonka Millers, who have won the challenge four times, the Austin Blue Sox, the Chaska Cubs and the Westmont, Illinois Red Sox.
“There’s a lot of buzz around this tourney and I always get a call from the state board people and they want to know what’s going on,” Frein said.
The Hounds will play Westmont at 6:15 p.m. Thursday and will play the Minneapolis Cobras at 7 p.m. Friday with a DJ playing music under the tent. The Hounds will take on the Blue Sox 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Hounds are off to a 2-4 overall start to the season and they’ve gotten a little younger this summer. Austin has leaned on Nate Conner, Daniel Bollinberg, Hayfield grad Tyler Nelson and Southland grads Alan May and Chris May.
Austin will still relies on veteran pitcher Nels Nelson. Logan Spitzack, Steven Clennon and Jacob Kempen will also contribute on the hill.
“We’ve got some new faces with some younger guys,” Frein said. “I think this team is a lot deeper and more skilled than what we’ve had in previous years. We have a full roster of thirty plus people and that’s what it takes. Our season is really just getting going and we look at SpamTown as an example of what are season is going to be like.”
