The Rebels turned to veteran player / coach Matt DeMarais for the opening day start. He was his usually crafty self, keeping the Raider hitters off balance with a mix of off-speed pitches. DeMarais retired the first 7 hitters he faced before back-to-back hits led to the lone Raiders run on the day. On the day, DeMarais went 5.0 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits, 3 strikeouts, and no walks. Keith Koehn took the ball from DeMarais and finished the game with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief allowing only 1 hit.
Behind DeMarais and Koehn, the Rebels played nearly flawless defense. Rookie Alex Kermendy made a few nice plays at second base including a backhanded snag of a diving line drive. Nate Labott returned behind the plate and picked off a Raider baserunner when he ventured too far from first base. The combination of allowing no walks and playing solid defense put the Rebels in a strong position to win the game.
Offensively, the Rebels had one of their largest outputs in recent years. Genesee got on the board early when Christ Theisen led off the first with a line drive single. Rome's pitcher had a hard time finding the strike zone as the next three Rebels reached base via the walk. After a Bourassa fielder's choice to notch the first out of the inning, rookie Mike Balistreri was welcomed to the league by being plunked in the thigh. Bauer then beat out a would-be-inning-ending-double-play to plate the third run of the inning. The Rebels would plate one run in each the second and the fourth before scoring 3 in the fifth and sixth.
Rookie Alex Kermendy had a big day for Genesee going 2 for 4 with one double and three rbi's. Nate Labott, after missing much of his freshman year at Saint Norbert College with an injury, reached base each of his 4 plate appearances and finished with two singles and two runs scored. Veteran Kyle Stasik also reached base each of his four plate appearances going 1 for 1 with 3 runs scored and 3 walks. On the day, the Rebels notched 6 hits on 9 walks while striking out 7 times.
All in all, it was a good day for the Rebels and a strong start to the season. Genesee hosts their youth baseball / softball camp this coming Saturday, May 21st and returns to the diamond with their first night game in 10 years as they travel to New Berlin for a 7:00pm Wednesday Night showdown on the 25th.
See you on the diamond!
ROME RAIDERS (1) AT GENESEE REBELS (11)
ROME RAIDERS AB R H BI GENESEE REBELS AB R H BI
Bryce Boos 3 0 0 1 Chris Theisen 3 1 1 1
Aaron Linse 3 0 0 0 Dom Nabak 1 0 0 0
Craig McDermot 3 0 0 0 Keith Koehn 4 0 0 2
Ben Gallo 3 0 0 0 Chris Elliott 2 2 0 0
Brett Krahn 3 0 2 0 Kyle Stasik 1 3 1 1
Jordan Garrison 3 0 0 0 Lucas Bourassa 3 1 0 0
Jason Teuteberg 1 0 0 0 Cody Alf 0 1 0 0
Jared Stewart 2 0 0 0 Mike Balistreri 2 0 0 1
Hunter Garsky 3 1 1 0 Nick Heckenkamp 1 0 0 0
Ryan Wenzel 2 0 2 0 Matt Bauer 3 1 0 2
Alex Kermendy 4 0 2 3
Nate Labott 3 2 2 1
TOTALS 26 1 5 1 TOTALS 27 11 6 11
ROME RAIDERS 001 000 0 -- 1
GENESEE REBELS 310 133 x -- 11
LOB--ROME RAIDERS 4, GENESEE REBELS 9. ERR--Aaron Linse (3),
Auston Salamaki, Kyle Stasik. 2B--Ryan Wenzel, Alex
Kermendy. HBP--Mike Balistreri. SACF--Chris Theisen.
SB--Ryan Wenzel.
ROME RAIDERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Jordan Garrison (L) 5.00 4 8 4 5 5 0
Craig McDermot 1.00 2 3 3 4 2 0
GENESEE REBELS
Matt DeMarais (W) 5.00 4 1 1 0 3 0
Keith Koehn 2.00 1 0 0 0 0 0
WP--Jordan Garrison (4). SO--Aaron Linse, Ben Gallo, Craig
McDermot, Chris Elliott, Chris Theisen, Nick Heckenkamp, Dom
Nabak, Keith Koehn, Mike Balistreri (2). BB--Chris Elliott
(2), Matt Bauer, Kyle Stasik (3), Keith Koehn, Nate Labott,
Cody Alf.
