Neither of these Suburban East Conference teams have had the regular season they’d like, but they’ve both gotten on a roll recently to set up what should be a good postseason tuneup for both squads on Friday.
Woodbury has triumphed in nine of its last 10 matchups. During that stretch, the Royals (12-5, 10-5) knocked off No. 2-4A Stillwater 6-2 on May 7 and No. 8-4A Park of Cottage Grove 15-8 on May 12. The team Woodbury lost to? Mounds View, in a 4-2 blemish which came on April 30.
Sam Melec took the loss for the Royals in the extra-innings defeat to No. 6-4A Mounds View. He threw all eight innings, recorded 10 strikeouts, and he allowed seven hits, a walk and four earned runs. His counterpart who picked up the win for the Mustangs (9-6, 8-6) was ace Will Rogers, who also pitched the entire game. He struck out eight, and gave up three hits, a walk and one earned run.
Rogers has thrown 33 innings this season, striking out 50 batters with a 1.06 ERA with a 3-1 record. Teammate Ben Rosin has also impressed from the mound, going 2-2 with a 0.76 ERA in 27 2/3 innings.
Mounds View won five consecutive games after defeating Woodbury in its first matchup this spring but has since lost back-to-back contests, a 3-1 defeat to Forest Lake on May 12 and a 2-1 eight-inning setback to East Ridge two days later. Rosin logged the defeat to the Rangers, and Rogers went seven innings but didn’t record the loss to the Raptors.