Much like the Suburban East Conference, the seven-team Lake Conference seems stacked with quality programs and players this year. No team in the Lake Conference enters the week having played more than three league games this spring, but there’s urgency for both Minnetonka and Hopkins to get going before No. 6-4A St. Michael-Albertville, No. 9-4A Wayzata and Buffalo can’t be caught in the standings.
Minnetonka (2-3, 0-3) has lost all three of its conference games to date, scoring just seven runs combined in those matchups. Coming off consecutive losses, the No. 3-4A Skippers took an 8-2 beating courtesy St. Michael-Albertville on April 16 and they followed that with a 4-1 stumble to Wayzata on Friday.
Charlie Hemer has been swinging Minnetonka’s best bat so far this season, hitting .429 with three walks and two RBIs. Hemer and Zach Unterseher were the only Skippers to record hits against the Trojans last week, with Hemer smacking two hits and driving in the team’s only run of the game off a double.
Minnetonka will look to buoy its offense on Wednesday at the expense of No. 7-4A Hopkins, which is coming off a 13-11 loss to Rogers on Saturday.
The Royals (4-3, 0-2) got multi-hit games from Cole Beyer and Jake Perry in that slugfest with Rogers. Drew Charney was also instrumental in the team’s offensive production. He walked twice, hit a double and scored three runs.