Matt DeMarais grew up across the border in Minnesota. Throwing a baseball since before he could walk, his parents had to install a board in their unfinished basement so he could play "strike out" for hours. While this helped with his control, it definitely didn't pay off with his arm strength as he has become a master of the off speed pitch and channels his inner "Greg Maddux" or "Jamie Moyer" attempting to keep batters off balance instead of blowing it by them. One of his favorite parts about pitching, aside from throwing over to 1st base 3, 4, or even 11 times in a row to frustrate base runners, is watching hitters yell in disgust when they pop up one of his 62mph heaters.

 

Even though he wasn't a starting pitcher until his senior year of college when he literally burst out laughing when his coach told him he would be a starter thinking it was some sort of joke, he quickly put a lot of miles on his arm and has unfortunately been on the injured reserve list for the last 3 years after elbow and wrist surgery. He has threatened to win comeback player of the year this year as he hopes to get back on the mound and see if he can still find the stikezone. It's a well-stated goal of his to play long enough so that he can be on the field at the same time as one of his children. Speaking of children, one thing DeMarais is good at is producing numerous offspring. The father of 4 boys aged 10, 9, 8 and 6 he only needs a few more to get a starting infield. Not sure if he'll be able to get a whole starting 9, but who knows. Don't tell his wife. 

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A graduate of Carroll College, DeMarais and his wife Kelsey settled in North Prairie in 2010 and have been there ever since. A public school teacher for 11 years, Matt apparently read the tea leaves and resigned last year before the pandemic hit and has taken over "DeMarais School" homeschooling his boys. Along with managing the Rebels, he also acts as the Baseball Coordinator for the North Prairie Athletic Association (NPAA) as he clearly is obsessed with baseball. A true advocate for building community through sports, you will most likely find him at Genesee Town Park or one of the ball fields in North Prairie. His love of baseball can be summed up by a quote from his sister-in-law who stated, "I don't think I love ANYTHING as much as Matt loves baseball."