Rebels trounce Dawgs

The Rebels took revenge for two losses earlier in the year by trouncing the North Prairie Dawgs 12-0 in the first round of the playoffs. Genesee scored early and often and got a solid pitching performance from Matt DeMarais as well as solid defense on their way to a convincing victory. The Rebels pounded out 16 hits and were led by Keith Koehn who knocked out four hits and added two RBIs. Chris Elliott had a monster day at the plate going 3 for 5 with a single, double, home run, and six RBIs. Andy Sturtevant, Mark Switalski, and Aaron Dolan each added two hits as nearly every Genesee batter had their way at the plate.

The offensive onslaught seemed to catch North Prairie by surprise. The Dawgs had defeated the Rebels 4-3 and 7-3 earlier in the season and were not ready for the fireworks. It helped that Genesee's defense kept the North Prairie hitters off balance the entire game. Matt DeMarais pitched the entire game for the Rebels allowing only five batters to reach base and promptly picking off one of them. Kyle Stasik turned in another defensive gem at third base while the middle infield remained as solid as ever and Matt Bauer helped with a sliding web gem in center.

One Rebel nearly saw his career end due to a brutal injury. While waving Matt Bauer around third, Genesee coach Mark Wershay got a little too excited and went down hard. Bauer somehow maintained his wits and scored as Wershay remained in "turtle" position on the ground. When the North Prairie center fielder argued that Wersh interfered with the runner, Mark cleared it up by stating, "Nope. I just fell." The Rebels dodged a bullet there.

The win sends the Rebels to Burlington on Sunday to take on the top seeded Baron's who defeated Rome last weekend. The teams split a series in the regular season.

The other matchup of the weekend puts the #2 seeded Waterford Rivermen, who barely escaped a 16 inning marathon against Dousman, up against the #4 seeded East Troy Express who defeated the Titans 16-13.

This weekends winners advance to a best out of three series the following weekend to determine the Southwest champion.