French Baseball Finals Game 1, in Rouen:
(1-0) Rouen Huskies – Savigny Lions 6-5 (11)
SAV 101 003 000 00 5 10 2 ROU 000 500 000 01 6 9 0
A hit by pitch with the bases loaded in the eleventh inning decided the outcome in game one of the French Baseball Finals. Carlos Jiminian (L 0-1) hit Kenji Hagiwara and ROUEN won by a final score of 6-5 against SAVIGNY. Game two of the best-of-five championship series will be played on Sunday afternoon, again in Rouen.
The first two batters in the bottom of the second extra inning, Flavien Peron and Nicolas Dubaut reached on an error by third baseman Steven Huff and a single. After two groundouts by the Bert brothers and runners on second and third, the LIONS decided to load the bases intentionally, walking Dany Scalabrini. But Jiminian missed with his pitch and the tactic didn’t pan out.
SAVIGNY had the better start into the game taking a 2-0 lead after three innings on a RBI single by Tim Stewart and a RBI groundout by Florian Peyrichou. The HUSKIES offense answered with a five-run rally in the fourth, thanks to a three-run double by Nicolas Dubaut and a two-run triple by Scalabrini. But the LIONS didn’t trail for long. Stewart and Huff hit back-to-back homeruns in the sixth to erase the three-run deficit.
Robin Roy (ROU) allowed nine hits, five runs and a walk in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out ten. Pierrick Lemestre (SAV) issued eight hits, five runs (3 ER) and two bb in nine innings. Keino Perez (W 1-0) picked up the win, retiring seven of the eight batters he faced.
Check rouenbaseball76.com for live play by play on Sunday afternoon