Metro Sports Report

Former Metro preps in pro baseball

RYAN SWEENEY (Xavier, Boston Red Sox) -- Sweeney was 2-for-3 with two singles and a walk Saturday in Boston's 10-0 loss at Detroit. Year to date: BA -- .571 (4-7), R -- 0, RBI -- 1, 2B -- 0, 3B -- 1, HR -- 0, SB -- 0.

KELLEN SWEENEY (Jefferson, Lansing (MWL, Blue Jays) -- Was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs Saturday in Lansing's 4-3 win over Great Lakes in the nightcap of a doubleheader. Went 0-for-3 in the opener, won by the Lugnuts, 4-2. Year to date: BA -- .286 (2-7), R -- 0, RBI -- 3, 2B -- 1, 3B -- 0, HR -- 0, SB -- 0.

SCOTT SCHEBLER (Prairie, Great Lakes (MWL, Dodgers) -- Was 1-for-4 with a double and RBI and two strikeouts Saturday in the Loons' 4-3 loss at Lansing in the nightcap of a doubleheader. Was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the opener. Year to date: BA -- .091 (1-11), R -- 0, RBI -- 1, 2B -- 1, 3B -- 0, HR -- 0, SB -- 0.

A tip of the fedora to the MSR

I've never kept track of how many tips of the fedora I have given out over a period of nearly 70 years of sports coverage, but today it's a pleasure to give another tip of the old fedora to the gang who started the Metro Sports Report and in a short period of time have reached one million pageviews.

It represents a great milestone of coverage of local prep sports, certainly unprecedented in my view. And they will continue to offer the latest coverage of Cedar Rapids athletes who have excelled at the high school level and beyond.

For instance, MSR president Jim Ecker will be traveling to Lansing, Mich., to be with the Lansing Lugnuts Friday night when two former Cedar Rapids high school athletes will make their Midwest League baseball debut.

Marion proves it can run with 4A teams

The Marion High School boys track team was anxious to see how it would fare against all the Class 4A schools at the 26th Wilkinson Relays on Thursday.

They did quite well, thank-you.

The Indians finished ahead of Kennedy, Jefferson, Prairie and Waterloo East in the team standings. Heck, they even finished ahead of the Linn-Mar Lions, who practically own the city of Marion when it comes to high school sports.

The Indians beat everybody at Kingston Stadium except the Washington Warriors, and they came darn close to getting them as well.

MSR has 1,000,000 reasons to say thanks

Mike Koolbeck and I thought we had a chance to be successful when we launched the Metro Sports Report on Jan. 3, 2011.

We thought we'd write a few stories, have some fun, get more involved in the community and maybe make a few bucks.

Little did we know.

Our little project reached a major milestone Wednesday when we reached 1,000,000 pageviews in exactly 15 months. I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot of pageviews for a website that's devoted to eight high schools in Cedar Rapids and Marion.

On behalf of my partner, we'd simply like to say thanks. Thanks for making us a part of your life and thanks for embracing our product.