RYLEY KEEPS HOLDEN WINLESS
Posted June 2, 2016
The Ryley Rebels would continue the horrible season for the Holden Blue Jays on Thursday night with a 7-3 win in an ugly affair. The teams were hammered with rain, wind and lightning from the fourth inning on while tempers boiled over in the seventh inning between the teams.
| June 2, 2016 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | L |
| Ryley Rebels | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 10 |
| Holden Blue Jays | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
Win - Barry Truss Loss - Grayson Suprovich
The gameplan was simple for the Rebels heading into the game on Thursday against the 0-3 Holden Blue Jays, score a run to take the lead and then play five innings as quickly as possible to secure what was surely going to be a rain shortened game. Dark clouds were steadily moving in from the west complete with lightning and cool weather meaning the chances of a complete seven inning game were unlikely.
Opposing the Rebels and making his first start of the season after breaking his hand apparently punching a wall in Junior B hockey was Grayson Suprovich. The right hander from Vegreville had recently had the cast removed and still was unable to swing a bat. Suprovich struggled mightily with his control walking six Rebels and bouncing countless pitches into catcher Stephen Hrabec, who was easily named the Warrior of the Game for the amount of abuse he took.
Shawn Pilgaard would give the Rebels a quick 1-0 lead on a RBI double to drive in catcher Chad Nelson. The Jays would respond in the home half of the first as Zak Lang would hit a RBI double of his own to tie the game at 1-1. The Rebels would take the lead for good in the second as Tyler Helgeland would hit a RBI single for a 2-1 lead before coming in to score himself later on in the inning on an error to the Jays right fielder off the bat of Josh McDonald.
With a lead and starter Barry Truss finally warmed up on the hill, the Rebels starting looking for quick offensive innings by attacking first pitches as much as they could. Five walks from Suprovich would put a dent into the quick inning plan by the Rebels as over and over again balls were being spiked into home plate and the ground for Hrabec to block.
With the rain coming down hard in the fourth inning and fans scattering to their vehicles, the Rebels would put up another three runs to make it a 6-2 game after five and an official game. After initially discussing the game to be done the home plate umpire decided to continue on and once the sixth was started players expected to now have to play all seven in the miserable conditions.
As both Truss and Jays reliever Randall Ziegler threw in the rain, visibility became lower and lower while keeping baseballs dry was also a problem. After having a couple pitches squirt out of his hand, Truss showed signs of frustration on the mound which got the Blue Jays bench riled up. The ten Rebels in the lineup would come to the Jays doorstep but no one from Holden would answer and leave the dugout on account of the rain. Words were slung back and forth between the vastly different sized teams and when things cleared up the Jays found themselves with a 0-4 record and a Twitter feud with the Rebels.
A special tip of the cap has to go to the elderly fan who left her vehicle to retrieve foul balls for the Blue Jays in the pouring rain and wind while they had a player staying warm and dry in the dugout.
The Rebels will now head back to the Ballpark in Ryley and await the Beaumont Angels who last week gave the Rebels their first loss of the season with a 8-0 beating at Four Seasons Park. This will also be only the second home game of the season so far for the Rebels with three previous home games versus Armena, Bardo and Tuesday's game against the Rosalind Athletics all rained out.
First pitch on Tuesday night will be at 7:00pm against the Beaumont Angels.