Rebels Push Win Streak To Four
Posted June 14, 2012
After a disappointing and sluggish showing at the 2012 Bardo Sports Day tournament last weekend, the Ryley Rebels bounced back Tuesday night beating the Armena Royals 1-0 at Anniversary Park to put the team at 5-3 on the season and into second place in the PBL standings.
Win – Craig Koughan (3-0)
Loss – Joel Boettger (0-1 vs Rebels)
RHP Craig Koughan took to the hill for the Rebels on Tuesday night going up against long time PBL veteran RHP Joel Boettger. What ensued was the definition of a pitching duel as each pitcher would only allow 3 hits and only dishing out 2 walks a piece in a game that lasted only one hour and twenty minutes. Koughan would work quickly and effectively on the evening keeping a low pitch count and collecting either a ground ball or fly out early in the count to the Royal batters. The complete game shutout would lower Koughan’s season ERA to 0.73 over the 28.67 innings pitched thus far in the 2012 season. With the PBL vs BRL All-Star Game just around the corner, Rebels fans are hoping that Koughan gets the recognition he deserves and will be selected by the league to take to the hill versus the Battle River League on June 26th.
Offensively for the Rebels, not a lot happened. CF Corey Epp would lead off the game with a single connecting on a Boettger 0-2 hanging curveball. The hit would be the Rebels 100th of 2012 in less than 300 at bats giving the team a batting average of .349 on the year.
The only offensive of the game came in the fourth inning when a SS Dylan Solberg lead off single would eventually lead to an unearned run by the Rebels when C Dustin Solberg would collect the ever exciting sacrifice fly RBI to put the Rebels ahead. Boettger would settle down after the minor rattling in the fourth retiring 9 of the next 11 Rebels to give the Royals a shot at coming back. But Koughan and the Rebels defence was just too solid this night as the Royals would only see three runners make it to second base from the fourth inning on.
The win sets up a very big game on Thursday night at the Ryley Sports Grounds where the first place Leduc Milleteers will look to bounce back after a tough loss to the Holden Blue Jays on Tuesday night has left them in striking distance of the Rebels for first place. A win by the Rebels would give them a 2-1 series lead over the Milleteers in 2012 and their first spot a top the standings since re-joining the league back in 2009. A loss combined with a Bardo Athletics win in Holden against the Jays would see the Rebels slip down into third ahead of the Camrose Roadrunners.
No word on who will take to the mound on Thursday night for the Rebels as RHP Don Oslund has been resting since last Thursday versus the Holden Blue Jays and RHP Corey Epp has seen 5 days of rest since facing the Milleteers on Saturday in Bardo.
