Baseball Rebels rally for win against Maple Creek

W.R. Myers Rebels baseball team busted into the win column with a 10-9 victory over Maple Creek at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park last week.

Maple Creek made a game of it, scoring nine runs despite only earning three hits.

“We threw some walks and they got some runs on errors,” said Caleb Zsednai, co-coach of the W.R. Myers Rebels baseball team.

Despite the Rebels handcuffing themselves at times, the team showed some fight in the contest that was lacking in previous matches as the team kept its head up and concentrated on the game.

The first four Maple Creek hitters reached bases on balls followed by a hit as the Rebels found themselves down 4-0 after a half inning, but the Rebels clawed right back. Spreading out runs throughout the game, the Rebels plated two runs in the bottom of the first and got another two runs in the third inning thanks to a Jason Wong home run. The Rebels tacked on three runs in the fourth inning to take the lead.

“We actually hit really well, getting 11 hits in the game,” said Zsednai. “I was really impressed with the guys being aggressive at the plate. We gave up only one run after that first inning up until the sixth.”

The Rebels relinquished their lead in the sixth inning when Darian Simmons came in to pitch. He struck out two of the first three batters he faced when some mental blips on the radar screen struck the Rebels at inopportune times.

“We had a bunch of mental mistakes between a few guys where they got three hits, but they really shouldn’t have been hits,” said Zsednai. “But we came back big in the bottom of the sixth and did what we needed to do getting on base and scored three runs.”

Tom Johnson picked an opportune time to register his first hit of the season, earning the game-winning RBI in the process to take a 10-9 lead.

Wong came in the seventh inning to shut the door on the mound to earn the save with three straight outs in a topsy-turvy game that saw Zsednai switch outfielders into infielders that needed some improved defence.

“I think this was a whole different ball team. We ran the bases on them and stole seven bases. The guys got their jobs done when they needed to do them and really bought in to what we wanted,” said Zsednai.

Jeff McDonald was 3-for-4 with the bat, ripping a triple. Ethan Robbins had two singles and played small ball, registering a sacrifice bunt that pushed the winning run into scoring position.

The Rebels host Milk River in an exhibition game on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Ken McDonald Memorial Sports Park.