The Genesee Rebels split a hotly contested double-header with the East Troy Express on Sunday afternoon at Genesee Town Park. The Rebels dropped game 1 after holding a 2-0 lead for nearly the entire game. Pitcher Brett Zickert took a no-hitter into the top of the 7th before a few fly balls dropped allowing the Express to tie the game and ultimately win in extra innings with a final score of 5-2. Game 2 proved to be another defensive duel as the Rebels outlasted the Express for a final score of 2-1. The two games were some of the best baseball you will see in the league as both teams played at a high level for nearly the entire day.
The split brings the Rebels overall record to 2-3 on the year as they dropped another close game to the New Berlin Lakers by a score of 5-2 and handed an easy 8-1 victory to the Burlington Barons. The Genesee Rebels have turned out stellar pitching and defensive performances thus far. Rookie Brett Zickert has been a force on the mound. His solid innings paired with veterans Keith Koehn and Matt DeMarais give the Rebels a 3-headed monster in terms of a starting rotation. With young arms in the likes of Alex Kermendy, Mike Balistreri, and Derek Urban coming out of the bullpen, the Rebels are setting themselves up for the long haul.
A few other bright spots for the Rebels include the play of rookie infielder Alex Kermendy who has filled the void at second, short, and third while providing some speed on the base paths offensively as well. Kermendy also leads the Rebels in hits with 7. Hits have been hard to come by for the Rebels as no other player on the team has more than 3. In fact, there are 6 Rebels with 3 hits to their name. The low early season numbers can be chalked up to facing good pitching as Genesee has had a tough start to the season facing top teams in New Berlin, Burlington, and East Troy.
Defensively, the Rebels are playing extremely solid defense behind generally good pitching. The team is boasting a 0.969 fielding percentage. A solid fielding percentage behind a team ERA of 4.50 has made for some close games. When the Rebels staff limits the free passes, they are tough to beat.
Genesee returns to action on Sunday, June 12th when they host the Waterford Rivermen for a double-header. First pitch is slated for 12:00pm. See you there.
