Mister Baseball

by www.namur-angels.be

On the weekend the Angels couldn’t quite get their offense, defense, and pitching in synch as they dropped two more games. On Saturday the Angels failed miserably with the bats as evidence of their two-week hiatus between games was obvious with rusty swings up and down the lineup. The result was a 5-0 loss despite another stellar outing by Erik Hufnagel who worked seven innings and yielded three runs on three hits while striking out seven and walking three. Louis Dellieu finished up in the eighth for Namur as the Royal Greys reached the final margin. Namur only once managed to get a runner into scoring position when Nicolas Migeot singled in the second and was sacrificed over by Adrien Geuquet, unfortunately no Angel would advance further on a slow day offensively for Namur.

On Sunday the Angels offense appeared to be reinvigorated, but the Angels were let down by their gloves as they committed five errors, with four factoring directly in the scoring of all of Merksem’s runs and prolonged innings for Migeot who pitched a good game but was hurt by the unearned runs. The final margin was 11-6, though until the eighth inning it was a close back and forth match.

Namur immediately improved on Sunday in the first inning when Ronny Heymans and Erik Hufnagel reached on walks and were moved over by Morgan Brown, both runners were stranded in scoring position, but Namur would continue to apply pressure all day. In the third the Royal Greys got on the board following a lead-off bunt single and then a misplayed fly ball in the outfield that resulted in a run crossing the plate and the runner advancing all the way to third with one out. Another single made the score 2-0 as Namur’s defensive lapses began to take their toll.

The Angels answered right way in the bottom half of the inning to even the tally. With one out, a hustling Heymans reached on a dropped third strike and Hufnagel followed with a double just inside the third base bag. Brown knocked in the first run and Jerome Sana picked up the tying RBI. In the fifth, the bad omen of a leadoff walk set the stage for an unfortunate inning. The next batter attempted to sacrifice bunt, but pushed the ball directly back to the mound for a potential double play, unfortunately the ball snuck past Migeot’s glove and both runners reached. The next batter did the same but this time Namur managed to get the out at first base. A sacrifice fly delivered one run and a two-run homer put Merksem up 5-2.

In the sixth the Angels showed some fight and plated two more. Three consecutive hits started the frame from Juny Gressman, Adrien Geuquet, and Ludovic Geuquet. The snake-bit Angels then had some of the wind taken from their sails by grounding into a 5-2-3 double play to put runners at second and third with two outs. The bit clutch hit came off the bat of Cedric Nauts who delivered two runs with a lined single to left field.

In the seventh another bad omen started trouble for the Angels. The number nine hitter was drilled with a pitch to kick-start the inning and a single and sacrifice fly later it was 6-4. The eighth inning proved to be the back-breaker though. Another leadoff free pass spelled trouble. An infield hit and another hit-batter loaded the bases. The Angels appeared to catch a break when a potential 5-2-3 double play of their own materialized, but after some miscommunication and a misplayed throw two runs scored, runners stood at second and third and no outs were recorded. The next batter flicked a single up the middle to plate both runners. Another run later scored on a fielder’s choice grounder that Namur couldn’t quite turn an inning ending 5-4-3 double play on. Despite the frustration the Angels came out swinging in the bottom of the ninth with one out. Hufnagel and Brown drilled consecutive doubles to left and with two out Gressman lined an RBI single to left. The small rally would end there however.

The Angels collected ten hits with multi-hit days coming from Hufnagel, Brown, and Gressman. Migeot deserved a better fate on the mound as he went eight innings yielding eleven hits but due to the five critical errors was forced to throw many more pitches than he should have. Dellieu finished up again, this time getting a 1-2-3 inning.

	Time	Home	Visitor	Result
Saturday, August 23 2008
	15:30	Royal Greys	Namur Angels	05:00
	15:30	K. Mortsel Stars	Hoboken Pioneers	01:03
	15:30	Brasschaat Braves	K. Borgerhout Squirrels	06:19
	15:30	Brussels Kangaroos	The Merchtem Cats	02:14
Sunday, August 24 2008
	15:30	Namur Angels	Royal Greys	06:11
	15:30	Hoboken Pioneers	K. Mortsel Stars	08:00
	15:30	K. Borgerhout Squirrels	Brasschaat Braves	08:10
	15:30	The Merchtem Cats	Brussels Kangaroos	01:06
	15:30	R. Antwerp Eagles	Louvain La Neuve Phoenix	11:01

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