Hopkins Rallies To Win Big In Season Opener

It was a beautiful day for a ballgame and a great start for the Hopkins baseball team as the Royals rallied to defeat visiting Richfield, 9-2, on Wednesday afternoon.

While the Spartans touched Hopkins starting pitcher Jack Hamilton for a pair of two-out runs in the top of the third inning, William Gregg's two-run home run in the bottom of the frame tied the game 2-2.

From there, the Royals went on to score seven more runs over the fourth and fifth innings to take the advantage they would hold until the final out.

Hopkins claimed the lead for good as Michael Larson and Andy Wicklund scored on a Richfield error in the bottom of the fourth inning before the Royals posted a five-run fifth frame to put the game away.

Hamilton hurled 4 2/3 innings for the win before giving way to reliever Tim Shannon, who squelched a bases-loaded threat in the fifth inning in his lone work of the afternoon as Jack Rettica closes out the game with a scoreless sixth and seventh inning.

Hopkins, now 1-0 on the season, hosts Benilde-St. Margaret's at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.