Lake Ronkonkoma, NY – The North Bellmore North Merrick Rebels completed a 5-0 tournament run in convincing fashion Monday by defeating the Long Island Breakers at the tournament championship, 9-1. It was a fitting finale for this team that excelled in all facets of their game throughout the weekend.

By all accounts, the 11-75 Red division of the NJBL Memorial Day Tournament was touted as featuring some of the top 11U teams on Long Island including the LI Breakers (#8 in the Island Cup rankings) and the Elwood Storm (#7 in the Island Cup rankings).

Saturday morning, the Rebels faced the host LI Baymen, one of the original full-time travel team organizations on Long Island. As starting pitcher Mike Proios and the Rebels defense kept the Baymen off the board, by the second time through their batting order, NBNM were putting their hits together. In a workman-like performance, including valuable relief pitching by Alec Acri, the Rebels dispatched the Baymen in a 5-0 shutout.

Later that afternoon, the Rebels faced the Hauppauge Eagles. Starter Kevin McCleneghan found himself in a bit of a jam in the early going when the Eagles had already pushed across two runs in the top of the first inning. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Hauppauge’s catcher laced a sizzling line drive toward third base that looked like it would break things wide open early for the Eagles. But Rebels third-baseman Matt Conry snared the shot and touched third base for a huge double-play. McCleneghan got the next hitter to fly out and what looked to be a big inning for Hauppauge was averted. The Rebels provided an immediate response with a barrage of offense of their own, including a most-impressive 260-foot big-fly from Rebels cleanup hitter (and birthday boy!) Brian Porricelli (his first of two such bombs in the tournament). As the Rebels’ hits just kept on coming, K-Mac found his groove shutting down Eagle batters through five, Acri came on to close the sixth, and the Rebels cruised to an 11-2 victory.

The Rebels returned to the diamond Sunday morning against the LI Breakers. Again, the Rebels fell behind yielding an early run and, again, their offense responded in their half of the inning to take the lead, 2-1. The Rebels carried the 2-1 advantage into the third inning behind a gritty performance by starter Nick Valeriano. The Breakers formidable lineup then managed to score the tying run. In the fourth inning, with runners at second and third, Valeriano helped himself when he hit a hard ground ball to the right of second base that could not be handled by the Breakers’ second-basemen scoring two for the Rebels. Valeriano went back on the hill and toughed it out to a complete-game victory with the assistance of some stellar defense in the bottom of the sixth: McCleneghan laid out to grab a hot smash at first base for out one, Matt Nilsen made a remarkable catch in left-center grabbing a hard, slicing line drive smoked into the alley for the second out, and Eric Solomon charged in to pick one off his shoestrings in right field for the final out preserving the 4-2 win and earning Nick a rare game-ball.

Between games on Sunday, the team had a pizza lunch provided by Mr. and Mrs. Porricelli in honor of Brian’s birthday. Once again, Happy Birthday Brian and thank you Bill and Tina!

The final game of pool play was Sunday afternoon with the Rebels meeting the Elwood Storm. The Rebels and Elwood already have some history that is developing into a bona fide rivalry and this game set out to fuel those fires. And, speaking of fire, the Rebels bats were ablaze in this one as every hitter in the Rebels lineup ripped the ball. Once again, the Rebels fell behind early when pitcher Eric Solomon struggled to find his control and yielded a pair of walks that each scored in the Storm’s half of the first. And, once again, the Rebels answered back in their half — with a fury — slashing balls to all fields and plating five runs. As Solomon settled down, the Rebels bats did not as their hot hitting — including another blast over the 245’ fence by Porricelli — pummeled any and all pitching the Storm put out there. By the bottom of the fourth inning, NBNM had extended their lead to 16-4, invoking the 12-run rule and a complete-game victory for Solomon, who earned himself a game-ball.

As the only undefeated team in pool play (with a run differential of plus28), the Rebels had earned the top seed for a Monday championship game.

After Hauppauge went on to defeat Elwood 6-3 in the late game on Sunday, the standings were: Baymen 0-4/minus24, Eagles 2-2/minus13, Storm 2-2/plus2, and Breakers 2-2/plus7, setting up a Rebels versus Breakers finale.

In Monday’s championship game, Rebels starting pitcher Brian Porricelli was dominant featuring his usual excellent fastball but also a devastating changeup that kept the Breakers’ batters off balance. Complimenting the strong pitching was fine defense and more prolific offense contributed by the Rebels entire lineup. The Rebels jumped out to any early lead in this game that was never close and coasted to a 9-1 victory and the tournament title.

After all was said and done, the Rebels far outclassed the field in achieving a perfect 5-0 record and a plus36 run differential. And every Rebel player made outstanding contributions including:

Alec Acri – 6 hits, 2 doubles, 6 runs scored, solid second-base, valuable relief pitching

Matt Conry – 4 hits, 1 double, 3 runs scored, outstanding third base

Matt Coster – Exemplary teammate! Hope to have you back on the field soon!

Jack Delaney – 3 hits, 3 runs scored, solid shortstop including web gem catch going back into left field

Billy McAdam – 7 hits, 8 runs scored, solid catching with perfect caught-stealing throw to third, solid outfield

Kevin McCleneghan – 4 hits, 1 double, 3 runs scored, solid pitching, excellent first base

Matt Nilsen – 3 hits, 5 runs scored, outstanding outfield

Brian Porricelli – 8 hits, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 6 runs scored, excellent centerfield, outstanding pitching

Mike Proios – 4 hits, 2 outstanding bunts, 4 runs scored, excellent catching with numerous caught stealing, solid outfield, excellent pitching

Eric Solomon – 5 hits, 3 doubles, 3 runs scored, countless tough at-bats, solid outfield, excellent pitching

Nick Valeriano – 9 hits, 1 double, 4 runs scored, solid first base, excellent catching with numerous caught stealing, outstanding pitching

Averaging 11 hits and 9 runs per game while giving up 1.6 runs against very legitimate competition, it would appear that the Rebels are hitting mid-season form and have set the stage for a very successful summer!

To cap off an already outstanding weekend, Coach Sam and the Acri family graciously hosted a pool party with plenty of food, drink and fun for the Rebels team and families where a great time was had by all! Thank you Coach Sam and family, and thank you Rebels families for all your contributions to a terrific day and a terrific weekend!

Pictures from the weekend’s festivities can be found in the ‘Photos’ area in the 2011 Spring, Memorial Day 2011 album (http://www.teampages.com/photo_albums/28182-Memorial-Day-2-11-photo-album/album_photos). Feel free to add others you may have!

This concludes the 2011 Rebels Spring Season.