The Rebels concluded there 2010 pre-season schedule on Saturday, by splitting a two game exhibition tournament at Anniversary Park in Armena, Alberta. The Rebels were able to defeat the host Armena Royals by a score of 5-0 before losing to the Leduc Milleteers in the final, 5-0.

The split left the Rebels with a 1-3 preseason record heading into Tuesday’s Opening Night in the PBL where the Rebels will square off against the Bardo Athletics in Ryley.

The Rebels preseason was disappointing, especially for the Rebels offense which looks to be on life support already in 2010. A dismal .171 batting average and .287 on base percentage are mostly to blame for a pre-season which saw the Rebels score only 15 runs over the 4 games, which included being shut out by the Milleteers not once, but twice. Manager Kevin Reinholt has also expressed frustration at the team’s ability to get the clutch hit, as the Rebels have stranded 32 on base in the preseason.

What little offense the Rebels have been able to muster, has mostly been the result of 2B Kyle Reinholt (.455, 3 RBI) and OF Corey Epp (.357, 2 RBI). Combined Epp and Reinholt are batting .400, 10 for 25 with 5 RBI’s. The rest of the Rebels are 9 for 86 (.105) with 7 RBI and no other Rebel with more than one at bat is batting higher than .167.

Also of interest, the Rebels have only swiped 3 bags in the 4 pre-season games while opponents have taken 11 from the Rebels.   

 

 

In the off-season the Rebels were able to shore up their pitching staff with the signings of LHP Cody Hovdestad and RHP Joel Graumann, while RHP Ron Oslund was set to come back to the Rebels to give the Rebels 6 legitimate pitchers for the season.  With roughly 245 innings set to be played over the PBL season, exhibition and tournament games, the Rebels needed a deep pen to stay competitive.

RHP Curtis Stensrud has been on the disabled list and will probably remain there until early to mid-June, recovering from a broken ankle, and has yet to throw in 2010. Graumann, although has not thrown for the Rebels in 2010, is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in 7.00 IP for the Camrose Axemen, as Graumann got revenge on the Edmonton Athletics of the NCABL, a team which he lost to with the Rebels in 2009.

One would have to assume that with two rough performances for RHP Corey Epp, that manager Kevin Reinholt would probably use Epp out of the bullpen during the PBL season, with spot starts in tournaments.

C Bryan Toles threw a complete game against the Leduc Milleteers at the Armena Icebreaker Tournament, the first innings for Toles since the 2008 season with the Camrose Axemen. Toles joined OF Josh Lyons, OF Dustin Solberg, UT Kevin Reinholt and OF Kris Kushnerick in the pre-season arms race.

 

The Rebels are going to have to manage the arms wisely, as there are already sore shoulders and elbows with a few guys so innings are going to have to be monitored for some.

Hopefully the team is able to push aside the miserable pre-season and focus on the regular season as the season might turn out to be a dog fight for 2^nd to 5^th place.