REBELS CLINCH PBL PENNANT, OFFICIALLY ELMINATE MILLETEERS
Posted July 2, 2015
The Ryley Rebels were able to clinch their first Powerline Baseball League Pennant on Thursday night with a 8-2 win over the Leduc Milleteers. It is the team’s first Pennant since joining the PBL in 2009 and the village of Ryley’s first since the 1997 Ryley Rebels did so before moving on to win the PBL Championship over the Tofield Lakers. It marked the second season in a row that the Milleteers stood in the way of the Rebels chance of a Pennant as in 2014 a 7-4 win by Leduc put both teams at 9-5 on the season with the Rebels falling to third and the Milleteers taking second place with the Armena Royals backing in to the Pennant. On Thursday night the Rebels would not be denied a second time.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leduc Milleteers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Ryley Rebels | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | x | 8 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
Win - Corey Epp (4-1) Loss - TJ Grabia Save - Tom Shulba (2)
Veteran hurler Corey Epp would be sent to the hill for the Rebels to oppose TJ Grabia from the Milleteers. It was a must win game for the Milleteers who on Tuesday night lost 7-1 to the Rosalind Athletics, the team they are battling for the fourth and final playoff spot, putting their playoff hopes on life-support for the first time since Leduc joined the PBL in 2008. Epp would start the game strong for the Rebels retiring ten of the first eleven batters he would face before the Milleteers would finally get on the board in the fourth inning. Milleteers SS Mykel Ruptash would get on board via a one out single before being driven home by Milleteer veteran Steven Pahl on a double for their first run of the game. Epp would settle down in the inning with Pahl standing on third with one out bu getting LF Brendan Huber to ground out to SS Brian Tavaroli and CF Greg Zilkie to pop up to 1B Craig Koughan to end the inning.
Epp would finish his night pitching five good innings for the Rebels to secure his fourth win of the season, surrendering only three hits and walking a lone Milleteer. Through five innings and with a 8-1 lead, Manager Craig Koughan would turn to the bullpen and closer Tom Shulba for the remaining six outs. Shulba would give one run in the seventh inning on a RBI single to C Shane Gerein but it wasn’t enough as the right hander would record four strikeouts in the six outs he would need to secure the two inning save and the Pennant for the Rebels.
Offensively the Rebels had a complete team effort against Grabia and the Milleteers as seven players would score at least one run and seven of the nine players used would reach base via a hit on the night. The Rebels would get on the board in the second inning when Shulba would hit a line drive at CF Greg Zilkie that would evade the fielders glove and make its way all the way to the centre field fence for a two RBI triple. Zilkie appeared to get caught in deciding on whether or not to play the ball on a hop or go for the diving catch leading to the misplay and the two out triple by Shulba to make it a 2-0 game. C Chad Nelson would make it 3-0 when he would drive a ball into left centre to easily score Shulba from third and to make it a 3-0 game. The Rebels would continue to put pressure on the shaky Milleteers defence as 3B Shawn Pilgaard would reach on an error (the Milleteers third already in the game) to his counterpart 3B Trevor Pahl who made a low throw across the diamond that 1B Chad Soucy could not pick out of the dirt. Soucy would bail out Pahl on the very next batter making a nice pick off of another one hopper from across the diamond to end the inning and keep the game at 3-0 Rebels.
In the home half of the fourth inning the shaky Milleteers defence would appear again as SS Steven Pahl (who was now at short due to an injury to 3B Trevor Pahl causing some defensive shake ups) would make an error on a ball off the bat of C Chad Nelson with two outs. Nelson would steal second ahead of 3B Shawn Pilgaard’s walk to put runners at first and second with two out but the duo would both move up on a double steal. 1B Craig Koughan would capitalize driving a hard ground ball, that would just stay low enough to the ground that a ranging SS Steven Pahl could not reach, all the way to the fence for a stand up double and a 5-1 Rebels lead.
The final three Rebel runs would come in the fifth inning with the first three hitters all reach base and being scored with some small ball from the top of the Rebels order. The inning would start with LF Barry Truss reaching on a single before moving all the way to third base on a pick off throwing error to Grabia (his second pick off error of the game) and a wild pitch. CF Kris Kushnerick would pick up a RBI fielder’s choice as the Milleteers would try to cut down the speedy Truss at home but the throw home would miss its mark allowing Kushnerick to make it to second base on the play with the lead now 6-1. 2B Tyler Helgeland would collect his first hit of the night moving Kushnerick to third before moving into scoring position on a stolen base with P Tom Shulba at the plate. Shula would collect a RBI on the sacrifice fly to right field for a 7-1 lead and C Chad Nelson would score Helgeland from third on a RBI ground out second base for the eight and final Rebels run on the night.
The seven errors by the Milleteers defence was a tough obstacle to overcome for the boys from Leduc, desperately looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. The final out of the 2015 season for the Milleteers might sum up the season for them. With two out in the top of the seventh inning C Shane Gerein would reach base safely on a RBI single to make it 8-2. On the play, 2B Brad Engel would make it to third base setting up runners at the corners for the Milleteers. Unfortunately the final out of the Milleteers season would happen when Rebels C Chad Nelson would catch Engel slowly walking back to third base after a pitch for the third and final out of the game.
The loss by the Milleteers means that the team will not be in the PBL Playoff picture for the first time in the franchises existence dating back to 2008. After making the playoffs and being eliminated in the first round by the Bardo Athletics in 2008, the Milleteers would start a streak of five PBL Championships from 2009-2013 which included three PBL Pennants from 2010-2012. It also means that the expansion Rosalind Athletics will be in the playoffs in their first season after leaving the Battle River Baseball League. The last expansion franchise to make the PBL Playoffs in their first season was the Holden Blue Jays in 2010. The Jays would end up playing the Ryley Rebels in a three game semi-final series with the Rebels winning 2-1.
PBL Expansion Franchises Making The Playoffs
2003 Chipman Crackerjacks - Lost semi-final to Camrose Roadrunners 2-0
2004 Camrose Colts - Lost championship to Armena Axemen 2-1
2008 Leduc Milleteers - Lost semi-final to Bardo Athletics 2-1
2009 Ryley Rebels - Lost semi-final to Leduc Milleteers 2-0
2010 Holden Blue Jays - Lost semi-final to Ryley Rebels 2-1
2015 Rosalind Athletics - To be determined
Game one of the series between the Ryley Rebels and the Rosalind Athletics will be on Tuesday July 7 at the Ryley Sports Grounds with game two happening on Thursday July 9 in Rosalind. Should a third and deciding game be needed, the teams will meet once again in Ryley on Tuesday July 14. All games are at 7:00pm.