REBELS DISMANTLE ROADRUNNERS IN RARE PBL DOUBLE HEADER
Posted July 10, 2014
The term double header is rare in the PBL and even more rare is the Thursday night double header. But baseball fans were given the opportunity to see a Thursday night double header tonight in Camrose as the Ryley Rebels took on the Roadrunners under the lights of Harry Andreassen Field. There was a need for the double header as the PBL season is winding down with some teams sitting at twelve to thirteen games played in the fourteen game season where the Rebels were at nine due to multiple rainouts through the season. Coming off a 15-0, two hit blow out of the Beaumont Angels on Tuesday night to move to 5-4 on the season, the Rebels confidence was high heading into a match up vs the 0-11 Camrose Roadrunners but fans didn't think they would get to see Ryley outscore the home team 28-1 and out hit them 32-5 over only 11 innings.
| Game 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | LB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryley Rebels | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | - | 17 | 19 | 0 | 6 |
| Camrose Roadrunners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Win - Don Oslund (1-1)
Loss - Unknown
| Game 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | LB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryley Rebels | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - | 11 | 13 | 1 | 7 |
| Camrose Roadrunners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Win - Corey Epp (3-1)
Loss - Unknown
In game one of the two game set, the Rebels would come out swinging as seven of the first nine hitters would reach via a base hit with the first five Rebels coming home to score. The Rebels would also steal a total of five bases in the inning, which undoubtably is a team record as C Chad Nelson stole one and both 2B Tyler Helgeland and CF Tyson Schielke would each steal a pair. A total of seven hits in the inning would get the night started in a big way as the Rebels would collect a total of nineteen hits against a Roadrunners squad just trying to make it through the rest of the season.
Every Rebels hitter would finish the night with at least one hit with Nelson, 1B Craig Koughan and SS Brian Tavaroli collecting three hits a piece. It was a big game for Tavaroli as he would finish the night 3 for 5 with a pair of singles, a double, three RBIs and three runs scored. Nelson would also finish the night with three runs scored as the only Rebel's hitter to not score a run would be LF Kevin Reinholt. Reinholt would be productive on the night though, going 1 for 2 in his two plate appearances collecting a RBI in each trip to the plate.
On the hill for the Rebels was veteran P Don Oslund who in only his second game of the year, would pitch a four hit six inning complete game for his first win of the season. Oslund would scatter six strikeouts through the game and twice get out of jams when the Roadrunners threatened with a runner in scoring position. The Roadrunners only glimmer of offence on the night occurred in the sixth inning when 1B Eldon Banack would come home to score after a dropped ball in a run down to give Oslund an unearned run.
In game two, the Roadunners managed even less of an offensive fight as the combination of pitchers Corey Epp, Shawn Pilgaard and Tom Shulba would allow only one hit to the opposition which was a single in the second inning to Pam MacTavish to load the bases with none out. Epp would then settle down recording a strike out looking, an infield fly and finally catch a Roadrunner looking for out number three. It would be the last time that the Roadrunners would see second base against the trio and only two runners would reach base safely in the remaining three innings.
SS Brian Tavaroli continued his hot hitting finishing the game 2 for 2 with a pair of singles and two more runs scored before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the fourth inning. Tavaroli would be the Rebel of the night as he would finish the double header 5 for 7 with five runs scored and four RBIs. Once again the Rebels would show some offensive depth as all eleven hitters used throughout the game would reach base safely at least once with 2B Tom Shulba and 3B Shawn Pilgaard each reaching base safely in three of their four plate appearances.
The Rebels/Roadrunners matchup has been rather one sided the last couple of seasons with the Rebels going 7-3 since the 2011 PBL campaign when the Roadrunner franchise was restarted after the Tofield Lakers packed up and headed south. Six of those seven wins have come with the Rebels scoring eleven or more runs pacing Ryley to outscore the Roadrunners 101-36 in the ten game history. Two of the Rebels losses came in the 2011 season when the surprising Roadrunners went from a 3-12 squad as the Tofield Lakers in 2010 to a 8-7 playoff team in 2011 on the back of pitcher Alex Roth who was a league MVP candidate for his weekly performances.
May 17/11 - Rebels 5 - Roadrunners 3
May 26/11 - Roadrunners 3 - Rebels 2
June 9/11 - Roadrunners 6 - Rebels 0
May 31/12 - Rebels 23 - Roadrunners 8
June 5/12 - Rebels 17 - Roadrunners 0
July 15/12 - Game not played due to the PBL rule stating that no game shall be played if it does not have any impact on the standings.
May 28/13 - Roadrunners 8 - Rebels 3
July 11/13 - Rebels 19 - Roadrunners 3
May 13/14 - Rebels 14 - Roadrunners 4
July 10/14 - Rebels 17 - Roadrunners 1
July 10/14 - Rebels 11 - Roadrunners 0
But the 2014 Roadrunners squad has struggled to field a competitive team which has been incredibly thin in pitching and overall depth. The season has been such a struggle for the Roadrunners that a story on the PBL website stopped short of calling them the worst team in PBL history but compared them to some of the worst seasons that baseball fans have seen in recent memory. The team was forced to move on as former All-Star P/OF Alex Roth left the team due to a reported disagreement with management for his home town Heisler Cardinals of the BRBL and former All-Star C Sheldon Petryshyn apparently has been out with an injury. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Roadrunners franchise in the off season as the Camrose squad has been notorius for taking a season or two off here and there for the last decade and a half.
The pair of wins by the Rebels saw them jump from fifth place, all the way up to third with a 7-4 record, ahead of the 7-4 Beaumont Angels and 7-5 Leduc Milleteers as all three are tied with 14 points. The Rebels will travel to Beaumont on Monday July 14 to take on the Angels in a big game between the two squads with the Rebels expecting to see pitcher Ryan Lehman once again. Lehman was able to escape with a 7-6 victory over the slow starting Rebels a couple of weeks ago and have already seen pitchers Denis LeBlanc and Marc Villineuve take losses against the Ryley squad this year. On Wednesday the Rebels will take on the second place Armena Royals in Ryley and the season will wrap up with a game against the defending PBL Champion Leduc Milleteers. All games are scheduled to start at 7:00pm.