Holden Powers Past Ryley
Posted May 25, 2013
Yet another sloppy and poorly played inning by the Rebels in the field, aided by a horrible check swing call and more opportunities squandered by the offence not clutching up, seals the Jays 8-4 win and sends the Rebels to a 2-2 record and a seat in fourth place while the Jays leap into third place.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | LOB | |
| HOLDEN BLUE JAYS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 5 |
| RYLEY REBELS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 9 |
Win – Grayson Soprovich (1-0 vs Rebels)
Loss – Craig Koughan (1-1)
P Craig Koughan took to the hill for the Rebels for his first action since May 14 versus the Leduc Milleteers. Koughan would pitch quickly through the first four innings surrendering only two runs on three hits while retiring six Jays in a row from the second to fourth innings. 1B Zak Lang would take Koughan deep with a 322′ home run on his birthday to regain the Jays lead at 2-1 on a first pitch curveball with one out.
P Grayson Soprovich would earn the win in six innings of work
The wheels came off for the Rebels in the fifth inning when the Jays would score a total of six runs, five of which came after a LF Randall Ziegler non-check swing call. Koughan appeared to get Ziegler waving at an outside pitch which would have ended the inning and kept the game at 3-1 Jays. Instead the umpire ruled that Ziegler had not gone around despite the three quarter swing and it set up a huge inning for the Jays. With runners at first and second Koughan would get 1B Zak Lang, who already had one home run on the evening, to pop up to right field but instead of an inning ending catch, the inning continued after the ball popped out of RF Travis Jones glove for the second error of the inning. The first came on an errant 3B Kevin Reinholt throw to first base allowing SS Colten Ziegler to reach safely.
After a two RBI single by 2B Logan Skori, 3B Steven Hrabec would put the dagger through the Rebels heart with a three run opposite field home run into the now non-existent skating rink to make it 8-1. The ball seemed to rocket off of Hrabec’s less than powerful swing, catch the jet stream and continue to sail over the fence much the surprise of everyone on both sides. Hrabec would finish the game three for four with two singles and the three run home run.
P Craig Koughan would pitch well, but not receive the support needed from the defence
After the horrible fifth inning which the Rebels let get away from them, Koughan would settle down blanking the Jays in the sixth and seventh innings to give the offence a chance to climb back into the game like they have had to do a couple times this season already. While the comeback came up short against Beaumont on Tuesday night, the Rebels were hoping that a similar letdown would not happen Thursday night.
Tyson Schielke would respond by hitting a stand up triple to the right field corner off of Jays starter Grayson Soprovich for his second hit in as many at bats. The ball seemed to find the same jet stream that 3B Steven Hrabec found earlier in the game and put the Rebels in position to start the comeback. 2B Corey Epp would try to catch the jet stream the following at bat but would just miss and settle for the sacrifice fly to make it a 8-2 Jays lead as Schielke easily crossed the plate with no throw.
EH/CF Tyson Schielke would drive a Soprovich fastball to the right field corner for a triple
The Rebels would threaten against Soprovich in the sixth inning when they would get back to back singles from CF Kris Kushnerick and 3B Kevin Reinholt to put runners at second and third with none out after a mis-play in centre by CF Alan Ziegler. Kushnerick would head to third on the bobble drawing the throw from Ziegler allowing Reinholt to stroll into second, but the Rebels were unable to cash in the runs. C Dustin Solberg would hit a soft line drive off the end of the bat back to P Grayson Soprovich for the first out, 1B Kyle Reinholt would hit a ground ball to 3B Steven Hrabec on the drawn in infield for out number two and RF Travis Jones would tap the ball back to Soprovich for the final out of the squandered inning.
LF Brett Holmberg would pop out to Soprovich in the fourth inning
With the Rebels hitting Soprovich in the fifth and sixth innings, the Jays turned to P Colten Ziegler to close the door and preserve the 8-2 win. After LF Brett Holmberg and CF Tyson Schielke to ground out to start the inning 2B Corey Epp and SS Brian Tavaroli would hit back to back doubles to make it a 8-3 game. P Craig Koughan would step up and crush a two run shot deep to the left field power alley and into the slopitch diamond. Or at least that is what it looked like based on the bat flip and subsequent five walking steps towards first base. Instead the cool Ryley air would knock the ball down and with Koughan in full trot heading towards first fans heard the sound of the ball hitting the turf followed by the crushing sound of chain link fence as the ball one hopped the outfield wall. The long single would score Tavaroli to make it an 8-4 ball game much to the enjoyment of everyone on the diamond with Koughan standing on first base.
It was just over a week ago (May 15) that the world got to see Jeon Jun-Woo bat flip and trot one what he thought was a game winning home run for the Lotte Giants but turned out to be a fly ball out. Here is the video of the play. Koughan’s bat flip was just as epic as Jun-Woo’s.
The loss puts the Rebels at .500 with a 2-2-1 record and a spot in fourth as the Royals and Jays jumped over the Rebels in the standings. The Rebels will now play the struggling Camrose Roadrunners (1-3) Tuesday night in Ryley before heading to Beaumont to take on the 1-3 Angels who in a week knocked off the Rebels and pushed the Milleteers to the limit. The Rebels will be looking at the games as two must wins to keep pace with the Milleteers and Royals who will spend the next couple of weeks playing each other three times. All games are schedule to start at 7:00pm.
