After looking at the German Baseball-Bundesliga a few weeks ago, we would like to continue in our review series with the French Elite League.
La Guerche Hawks
The HAWKS had a miserable 2007 French Elite League season with just three victories in 24 games, finishing sixth of seventh teams. With new head coach Mathieu Beauchamp the club improved significantly in 2008. They won ten games during the regular season, ranking sixth tied in the win column with fifth-ranked TOULOUSE. In the play-down round LA GUERCHE picked up seven more victories for a final 17-23 record, which was good enough for sixth in the final standings. If not for a 0-4 record against fourth-ranked MONTPELLIER they even would have had a chance on a playoff spot. But at least they surprised the top teams occasionally.
What the stats say
Their pitching staff with a team ERA of 4.66 was their main reason for their success. They allowed 287 runs during the course of the season, 174 were earned due to 104 errors by the defense. Only PARIS UC committed more errors in 2008. The pitchers couldn’t hope for much run support either, as the offense batted just .229 (OBP .337/SLG .277) with 214 runs scored on 303 hits this year. Gaetan Lepoupon had the lone homerun all season.
Anthony Piquet led the pitching with a 7-7 record in 16 starts. He had eleven complete games and finished with 125 innings pitched. No other hurler on the staff even had half of his workload. He had an ERA of 1.94, as opposing batters averaged just .197 against him. He struck out 152, while walking 33. Four other starters split the time on the mound, when Piquet sat on the bench. But Beauchamp (2-2, ERA 5.22, 30 SO, 21 BB, 29.1 IP), Ludovic Clairet (2-4, ERA 5.49, 20 SO, 21 BB, 57.1 IP), Jean-Pascal Furet (1-6, ERA 8.16, 21 SO, 55 BB, 46.1 IP) and Lepoupon (1-5, ERA 3.65, 25 SO, 20 BB, 37 IP) didn’t compete on the same level as their number one pitcher.
Offensive wise Neftali Miller and Beauchamp had the best numbers, though only in limited time. Miller batted .330 (.413/.406) with eight doubles, 16 runs scored and 27 RBIs in 30 games. Beauchamp came to the plate in 15 games, hitting .441 (.525/.500) with two doubles, five runs scored and six RBIs. Mathieu Brau (.200/.383/.267) scored a team-best 42 runs. He also stole 13 bases. Virgile Roux (.224/.360/.269) was successful in 23 of 27 stolen base attempts and reached home 40 times. Piquet not only excelled on the mound, he also had a nice year at the plate, going .274 (.466/.347) with 27 runs scored and 19 RBIs in 32 games. Laurent Perriguey (.216/.285/.279) drove in 25.
Not only did LA GUERCHE improve in the standings, they also showed better Baseball on the field. They hit 24 points better than a year ago with a much better on-base-percentage. In addition they lowered their team ERA about a run. Of course the difference to the best three teams in the Elite League is still there. They would like to hold on to Beauchamp, but a new contract with the Canadian isn’t signed yet.
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Arvernes de Clermont-Ferrand