PITCHING AND DEFENSE LEAD REBELS TO SEASON OPENING WIN
Posted May 9, 2015
The Ryley Rebels defeated the hometown Camrose Roadrunners 5-0 this afternoon with the win coming on the back of a strong pitching performance and tight defense as the bats were unable to come to full potential this early in the season. Rebels' veteran pitcher Corey Epp would be stellar on the hill while second year Rebel Shawn Pilgaard would do a little of everything for the team offensively and at third base to secure the win.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | LB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryley Rebels | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Camrose Roadrunners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
Win - Corey Epp (1-0)
Loss - Marcel Lesoway
Save - Barry Truss
On the hill for the Rebels was right hander Corey Epp, who would be making his third career opening day start. Epp would not disappoint as he would cruise through his four innings of work by retiring twelve of the fourteen hitters he would face, including ten via the strikeout. In fact, Epp would be so dominant on the hill this afternoon that the first nine Roadrunner outs were all by way of the strikeout. Ironic since on Tuesday night the Rebels would have a similar fate having their first nine outs versus Kirk Smith and the Beaumont Angels come at the hands of the strikeout.
Epp's perfect game bid and run of consecutive strikeouts would end in the third innning when 2B Pam MacTavish would draw a four pitch walk to start the inning. Things looked like they might unwind for Epp after going 3-0 to the second batter of the inning, the Roadrunners left fielder, but the crafty veteran would battle back. A swinging strike on 3-0, followed by another swinging strike at 3-1 opened the door for Epp's seventh strikeout on a fastball at the eyes of the hitter who just couldn't hold up. Epp would breeze through the rest of the inning retiring the next two batters, RF Aaron and C Brett Keohne with strikeouts.
When the Roadrunners were finally able to put the ball into play, the Rebels tight defense was there to ensure that minimal damage occurred. Epp's counterpart, P Marcel Lesoway would be the first to make contact against the Rebels as he led off the fourth inning with a ground out to 1B Craig Koughan for the unassisted play. With two out in the fourth inning the Roadrunners would finally strike with their first hit, with a SS Tim MacTavish stick the bat out, two strike single up the middle. Epp's day would finish after four innings, with his tenth strikeout of the afternoon to end the fourth innings against Roadrunners 3B Mark Lawson.
Manager Kevin Reinholt would turn to first year Rebels P Barry Truss to close the door for the rest of the game. Truss would earn the three inning save holding on to the Rebels shutout despite a pair of walks and three singles from Roadrunner hitters with the lead off hitter of each inning reaching base safely. Truss was able to get a big strikeout or a big ground ball into the defense whenever the Roadrunners appeared they might be able to mount an inning together.
There was no better example of the Rebels strong defensive structure then the the play to end the game. With runners at second and third, C Brett Keohne would hit a hard ground ball causing 3B Shawn Pilgaard to have to range to his left. With a smooth sliding pick, Pilgaard would get up, spin and fire a one hopper to 1B Craig Koughan would calmly would make the great pick at first base to end the game and secure the shutout.
In a game that the offense struggled to get going, it was this type of pitching and defense that led the Rebels to victory and was a huge reason why the Rebels were the 2014 Powerline Baseball League Champions.