The Rebels headed into their first PBL Finals appearance since 2000, when the original Rebels franchise, at the tail end of the 1980-1990’s dynasty, beat the Camrose Roadrunners to capture the last Rebels championship. In their way were the 2009 PBL Champion Leduc Milleteers, who were also responsible for the ousting of the Rebels in the 2009 playoffs.

 

The Rebels and Milleteers had met 5 times in 2010 prior to the PBL Final, with the Milleteers holding a 4-1 (2-1 PBL) advantage over the sophomore Rebels. Here is a quick recap of the season series;

 

Game #1 – May 12^th 2010, at Leduc Reservoir Field (Exhibition)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E
Rebels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0	0	5
Milleteers	4	2	2	0	6	9	-	-	23	22	0

WP – Unknown LP – Corey Epp

 

It was one of the most embarrassing losses in Rebels history both on the score board and in the dugout. While being no hit by a committee of Milleteer pitchers wasn’t bad enough, most Rebels didn’t even seem to realize it until the 7^th inning, a sign that no one came prepared and no one was ready to pull up their socks and try to earn a small victory.

 

Game #2 – May 15^th 2010, at Anniversary Field (Exhibition)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E
Milleteers	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	-	5	10	2
Rebels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0	2	3

WP – Ryan Walker LP – Bryan Toles

 

Three days after not being able to muster up a hit against the Milleteers, the Rebels were only able to get 2 hits off of Milleteers RHP Ryan Walker. Not three hours earlier, the Rebels were able to man handle the overpowered Armena Royals, but a game off and multiple beverages on a hot Saturday afternoon took their toll as the hand eye coordination didn’t arrive in time for the game. With sore arms, and four exhibition games in 5 days, the Rebels turned to RHP Bryan Toles, who up until that point had not pitched since the 2007 season.

 

Game #3 – May 25^th 2010, at Ryley Ballpark (Regular Season)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E
Milleteers	1	0	0	0	2	5	0	2	10	13	1
Rebels	1	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	8	7	2

WP – Unknown LP – Kris Kushnerick

 

With the entire Rebels rotation on the DL with a variety of injuries (Solberg – shoulder, Stensrud – leg, Graumann – elbow, Hovdstad – shoulder) manager Kevin Reinholt turned to OF Kris Kushnerick, who was already making his 4^th appearance of the season. After handing the Rebels two losses in two exhibition games, the Milleteers started RHP Shawn Brinkworth, who was only able to survive 1.67 innings while surrendering 6 earned runs. The Rebel offense then decided to take the rest of the game off as they were only able to muster 2 more runs and 3 more hits against the Milleteers bullpen of RHP Jon Anstey, RHP Brad Engel, and RHP Steve Pahl. Kushnerick was only able to hold the Milleteers offense at bay for so long, and in the 5^th inning the struck with 2, followed by 5 in the 6^th before pulling ahead in the top of the 8^th with 2 more.

 

Game #4 – June 9^th 2010, at Reservoir Field (Regular Season)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E
Rebels	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	-	3	4	2
Milleteers	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	-	2	5	1

WP – Ron Oslund LP – Steve Pahl

 

The Rebels rolled into Leduc and did something that they had yet to do in 2 seasons, win in Leduc. With veteran RHP Ron Oslund using wind and gravity to make his knuckleball dance, the Milleteer offense was left with only 5 hits and 2 runs after six innings of play. For the second game in a row, the visiting team was able to capitalize in the top half of the last inning to score 2 runs to win the game. After falling behind 2-1 early, the Rebels defense was able to keep the offense in the game for a chance to win in the 7^th, and they delivered to tie the season series at 1-1.

 

Game #5 – June 15^th 2010, at Ryley Ballpark (Regular Season)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E
Milleteers	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	-	5	10	2
Rebels	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	-	3	5	0

WP – Unknown LP – Curtis Stensrud

 

RHP Curtis Stensrud was given the nod for the Rebels in his first action since July 2009. Despite surrendering 10 hits to the Milleteers, Stensrud was able to record 11 strikeouts in his first outing since breaking his ankle, not once but twice since the end of the 2009 season.  The Rebels offense was once again quiet against Milleteer pitching, scoring only 3 runs off of 5 hits. It also marked the third game in a row between the two clubs that was decided in the top of the 7^th inning. In three regular season games between the Milleteers and Rebels in 2010, all were decided by 2 runs or less, all were won by the visiting team and all saw the Milleteers score at least one run in their first at bat.

 

Game #6 – August 3^rd 2010, at Reservoir Field (Playoffs)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E	LOB
Rebels	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-	1	7	6	8
Milleteers	3	3	0	1	3	0	-	-	10	12	1	7

WP – Steve Pahl LP – Dylan Solberg

 

After playing a total of 5 games against each other in the first month of the season, the Rebels and Milleteers had to wait a month and a half to square off again, this time in the PBL Final. With the Milleteers sweeping the Bardo Athletics in the first round and the Ryley Rebels defeating the Holden Blue Jays 2-1, fans were excited to see a rematch of the 2009 semi finals. Unfortunately, the Rebels did not hold the same enthusiasm, at least once game one started. With most of the team showing up 10-15 minutes before game time, little was done to get psyched up for the game in front of a decently sized fan base that made the trip. It was 6-0 before the Rebels were settled in as the Milleteers came ready to play and RHP Dylan Solberg, who had only pitched 7.00 innings since the start of the year, looked tired as fans were wondering about the sore shoulder that sidelined him from the mound for most of 2010. Six horrible errors and one confrontation between C Dustin Solberg and LF Adam Pahl later, and the Rebels were looking at a 10-1 blowout under the tornado brewing clouds.

	PA	AB	H	R	BB	SO	RBI	AVG
Epp, LF-3B	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0.342
Tavaroli, SS-2B	4	4	2	0	0	1	0	0.362
Dy. Solberg, P-SS	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0.349
Ky. Reinholt, 2B-1B	3	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.433
Ke. Reinholt 1B	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.329
Oslund, P	2	2	0	0	0	2	0	0.188
Kushnerick, RF-LF	3	3	1	0	0	1	0	0.298
Du. Solberg, C	3	3	1	1	0	1	0	0.233
Koughan, 3B	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.216
Jones, RF	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.200
Lyons, LF	3	3	1	0	0	1	1	0.188
Team Totals	30	29	7	1	0	9	1	0.285

 

	IP	H	R	ER	SO	BB	BF	ERA
Dy. Solberg	2	6	6	4	0	1	15	5.44
Oslund	4	6	4	2	1	1	20	4.78

 

 

Game #7 – August 5^th 2010, at Ryley Ballpark (Playoffs)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	x	R	H	E	LOB
Milleteers	3	0	3	2	0	3	0	-	11	11	1	5
Rebels	1	0	4	0	0	0	1	-	6	9	3	10

WP – Jon Anstey LP – Curt Stensrud

 

RHP Curt Stensrud made his third start of the 2010 playoffs in a crucial game against the Milleteers in front of a capacity crowd at the Ryley Ballpark. Two fly ball home runs which scraped over the 287 foot fence in right field turned out to be the difference maker as the Milleteers scored 6 runs off of them. A three run home run in the 1^st inning by CF Kevin Doyle and a three run home run by 1B Steve Pahl were able to sink the Rebels and secure a second straight PBL Championship for the Leduc Milleteers.

 

The Rebels offense got going in the 3^rd inning when 3B Ron Oslund was able to connect on a 2 run single in what proved to be RHP Ryan Walkers last inning of work. Once again the Rebels offense went to sleep after putting up a big inning as they were only able to muster 2 hits and one more run in the next 4.00 innings against RHP Jon Anstey.

 

With the loss, the Rebels once again were swept out of the playoffs, this time in the Finals, where costly errors and mistakes were amplified. With 10 runners left on base in the elimination game, the Rebels proved that playing small ball is a vastly underrated part of the game and a part of the game that needs to be played all year long, not just starting when the playoffs start.

 

	PA	AB	H	R	BB	SO	RBI	AVG
Epp, LF	5	4	2	1	1	0	0	0.349
Tavaroli, 2B	4	4	0	0	0	3	0	0.333
Dy. Solberg, SS	4	3	0	0	0	1	0	0.333
Ky. Reinholt, DH	4	3	0	1	1	2	0	0.414
Ke. Reinholt, 1B	4	4	2	2	0	0	1	0.338
Kushnerick, RF	4	3	1	1	1	1	1	0.300
Du. Solberg, C	4	4	2	1	0	0	2	0.255
Koughan, 3B	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.211
Oslund, 3B	3	3	0	1	0	1	2	0.211
Lyons, CF	4	3	1	0	1	1	0	0.194
Team Totals	37	32	8	7	4	10	6	0.285

 

	IP	H	R	ER	SO	BB	BF	ERA
Stensrud	7	11	11	8	4	2	37	4.00

 

Throughout 2010 the Rebels were stymied by the Milleteers pitching, only able to produce offense in bursts, before going dormant for the rest of the game. SS Dylan Solberg had the most success against the Milleteers in 2010, collecting 6 hits and 7 RBI’s in 23 plate appearances while the team batted .194 over 191 total at bats scoring 21 runs in 7 games. A far cry from the 9.07 runs per game the Rebels posted in the regular season. Also of note, the Milleteers were able to score at least one run in their first at bat in all seven meetings against the Rebels in 2010. The first inning proved to be a sore spot for the Rebels offense all year as they were outscored 35-22 by opponents in the first inning;

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	X	Total
Rebels	22	37	29	23	24	26	19	0	180
Opponents	35	21	20	26	31	40	19	2	194

 

The rivalry between the Leduc Milleteers and the Ryley Rebels will continue to grow, as both teams look to be locked in for a long run at the PBL Playoffs while teams like the Armena Royals and Tofield Lakers re-build and re-tool for the future. The only question might not be will the Rebels be able to de-throne the Milleters, it might be when will the Rebels dethrone the Milleteers? With teams constantly re-tooling and altering rosters due to player commitment levels anything can happen.