Baseball returns to Dell Diamond as Round Rock Express open season

Round Rock Express open season at Dell Diamond

It's been more than 600 days without Express baseball and the team opened the AAA season with a nice mix of rehabbing veterans and young prospects.

ROUND ROCK, Texas - It was quite the scene at Dell Diamond in Round Rock after more than 600 days without Round Rock Express baseball.

The Express opened its AAA season with a nice mix of rehabbing veterans, like Khris Davis, and young prospects against the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Wes Benjamin was the opening day starter and he told FOX 7 Sports that he likes playing in front of real fans a lot more than cardboard cutouts. He struck out eight Dodgers in five shutout innings.

24-year-old Charles LeBlanc made his AAA debut memorable with the first Express hit in two years and it was a two-run homer!

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Opening Day for Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond

After more than 600 days, the Express is back! FOX 7 Austin's Tierra Neubaum has a look at what to expect.

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The Express won 6-0 but for the Express leadership, just getting back on the field was the real win.

"It's been fun to get back into it. Like I told our staff, we're in a much better position this year than we were at this time last year. We hosted 40 or so events last season, some people challenged us on what we were doing but I don't ever want to go through another day like I did on May 27th when we had to lay off 40% of our staff. We're going to be a little bullish but we're going to keep people safe," says Chris Almendarez, Express President.

Express General Manager Tim Jackson says, "This is a special place to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Last season hurt a lot of people. Our family is back home and Dell Diamond is back doing what it was made to do."

The first 12 games of the season will be at Dell Diamond.