From left, amateur boxers Shane Durand, Curtis Graham and Shawn Miller at a press conference Tuesday at The Joe. (Mike McMahon/The Record)

A crew of local boxers will enter the ring Saturday night at Joe Bruno Stadium in the second annual KO at the Joe. This year's event will features amateur boxers only.
Shawn Miller, a 26-year-old Troy native, is the featured boxer and he hopes to continue in the family footsteps. His older brother, Shannon, won a heavyweight bout in the 2007 event.

The card will feature some young, up-and-coming fighters. Shane Durand, 11, picked up the sport after tagging along to a class with his step-brother. He said he was excited to fight in front of the "home crowd" and fight promoter Rick Sweeney called Durand "somebody to keep your eye on for the future."
He is 7-2 so far in his young career. Gates open at 5 p.m. on Saturday with the first bell rung at 6. General admission tickets cost $15, kids under 12 get in for $10 and children under 5 are free.

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A Field of Dreams at Saint Rose
Joseph Plumeri, a multimillionaire co-owner of the Trenton Thunder, the New York Yankees' Class-AA affiliate, came to the College of Saint Rose in 2006 to give the commencement address. Other than a long-standing friendship with Dan Nolan, Saint Rose's chair of the board of trustees, Plumeri had no connections to Albany or Saint Rose. A week before the graduation ceremony, Saint Rose's long-time baseball coach, Bob Bellizzi, passed away of leukemia.

The school used the congregation to honor Bellizzi, who in his 28-year career at Saint Rose, took the team from the club level to four NCAA tournament berths.

Plumeri was so taken by the tribute to Bellizzi that he decided, while sitting on stage, waiting to give his address, that he would donate $100,000 to the school for the construction of a new baseball field in Bellizzi's honor. Well, two years later, Plumeri had a change of heart. He's now giving the school $1 million towards a renovation of Albany's Howard Park (near the south end of 787) with new baseball and softball fields being built, along with a synthetic turf multipurpose field for soccer and lacrosse.

The 'Joseph Plumeri Sports Complex' will also be a boon for the South End. The city will still retain ownership of the park and summer camps and high school teams will also make use of the facility.

The one catch is that the facility is estimated to cost $4 to $4.5 million to construct (depending on how intricate the school wants to get with stands, locker rooms and a press box). Saint Rose is launching a fundraising operation to match Plumeri's gift and he will match any amount Saint Rose can raise over $1 million.

It should change the attitude at Saint Rose - which is crazy for its basketball teams, which are usually very successful - but lackadaisical about the outdoor sports. Part of the problem was Saint Rose' location. An urban school, it is landlocked for green space. The soccer teams played their home games at Albany Academy; the baseball team made Bleecker Stadium home; and the softball team travelled ten miles one-way to get to the Rotterdam Girls Softball League complex for its home games.

With a new facility a few blocks away (the school is planning to run student shuttles to the Plumeri complex for home games) support for the teams will likely increase. But much will depend on how well the college can raise funds in the coming year.

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Two notes on the ValleyCats.
The Houston Astros organization is holding an open tryout at Bruno Stadium on Monday, August 11. Participants must be at least 16 years old with proof of age.
Any players selected in the 2008 Major League Draft are not eligible. American Legion players must bring a letter from their coach granting permission.
For more information, click here.

Also, the 'Cats are hosting the New York-Penn League All-Star game on August 19.

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High School Football Starts on August 18 We're getting excited about the upcoming high school football season and one reason is the strength of Class A.
Troy High typically plays with the big boys in Class AA, but because of slightly lower enrollment numbers, will play at the A level in 2008.
Consider the other local talent in the 'A' division. Lansingburgh, Bishop Maginn, Burnt Hills, Amsterdam and Glens Falls have all done very well in recent years. Adding Troy to the mix only makes this Class stronger.

It's no wonder these Class A teams are dominant year after year - they have some of the area's top coaches. Joe Grasso (Maginn) has 172 career victories, Pat Liverio (Amsterdam) has 107 , Jack Burger (Troy) 95, Pete Porcelli (Lansingburgh) 69, Pat Lilac (Glens Falls) 50 and Matt Shell at Burnt Hills has 40 wins in six years at the helm.

You can visit www.section2football.com for a wonderful look at all sorts of Section II records.

Troy's week two game at Amsterdam should be one of the best early-season games this year. Jack Burger will likely win his 100th career game this season.

In Class AA, La Salle's Marquis Terrell returns for his senior season. You may remember his 365-yard rushing performance against Schenectady last season, the No. 10 all-time single-game performance in Section II history. He also ran for 308 against Monroe-Woodbury in the state playoffs, good for 29th in Section II.

But with La Salle and Troy not playing each other this season, the marquee Collar City game becomes the Troy-Lansingburgh clash on October 17, at the 'Burgh.

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A few local baseball teams are still advancing in their postseason tournaments.
The South Troy Dodgers' 15-and-under Mickey Mantle team is competing in the World Series in Owasso, Okla.
You can keep up with the tournament by clicking on www.owassobaseball.com which has great picture galleries from the games. Can anyone identify the Dodgers player above?

The Dodgers play host team Owasso in a loser's bracket game Friday afternoon.
A photo gallery from their Aug. 7 game against the Brooklyn Youth Service can be viewed by clicking here.

OWASSO, Okla. - Three errors proved very costly for the South Troy Dodgers Sandy Koufax 15 & under team at the AABC World Series on Thursday.
The Dodgers, who defeated Las Cruces 9-2 on Tuesday, were leading 3-0 in the bottom of the third when the Youth Service (Brooklyn) Blue Devils struck for seven runs as South Troy committed a trio of errors.
The Dodgers scored three runs in the top of the fifth to pull within one run, but could come no closer.
Brendan Dalcol doubled and singled for South Troy, which will take on the host Owasso team today at 4:30 p.m. Josh Ingham added two singles.

YOUTH SERVICE 7, SOUTH TROY DODGERS 6
South Troy Dodgers (1-1) 021 030 0 - 6 7 3
Youth Service 007 000 x - 7 7 3
Bariteau, Doyle (6) and Adams; Vega, Frail (7) and Galceinospan
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In Schenectady and Albany, the 2008 Stan Musial North Atlantic Regionals are going on with two Twilight League teams, the Albany Athletics and Davies AC still in the mix.
Keep up with the Musials by clicking here.

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Anything we missed? Keep in touch: troyrecordsports [at] gmail [dot] com

--Will Montgomery