Hopkins baseball team ready for state tournament

For the 10th time in program history, the Hopkins high school baseball team will play in the state tournament. They will play a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, and will find out who their opponent is on Saturday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place in Chaska.

We caught up with the Royals following their light practice on Friday morning.

***Click the video box above to watch our conversations with coach Jason Mihalakis and catcher Luke Nordean***

Hopkins is looking to improve on its 6th place finish at state in 2019. Mihalakis noted that if there was a season last year — it was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic — they would’ve had a solid shot to win the championship.

While the pitching for the 2021 Royals isn’t what they’ve had in seasons past, Mihalakis said that they have the No. 2 offense in the state. In other words, for the Royals to make a deep run next week, their bats will have to carry them.