by Namur Angels, www.namur-angels.be
Angels Take Game One Against Spartans
On Saturday afternoon, the Angels took game one of the two game series against the Deurne Spartans. Namur got another great pitching performance from starter Jake Hummel. He threw seven complete innings, giving up three runs on six hits, walked four, and struck out five in the 6-3 victory.
Namur scored in the top of the first after Theodore De Bellefroid led off the game with a single to left. Greg Van Sickler and Hummel both walked to load the bases. The Angels were unsuccessful with their first attempt as Williams Rosario hit a groundball to third base and a fielder’s choice retired De Bellefroid at home plate. However, Cedric Nauts stepped to the plate and delivered a line drive single to right field to score Van Sickler. Hummel was waived around third, but was gunned down at the plate, and the Angels were only able to scratch one run across the board in the inning. They scored again in the top of the second when Ludovic Geuquet singled to start the inning. The next batter, Jerome Sana, drew a walk. With runners at first and second, catcher Tom Gerard laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position. The lineup turned over, and De Bellefroid hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Geuquet. However, the throw was cut off to third as Sana was tagging from second base, and an errant throw allowed Sana to score.
Trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the second, the Spartans would cut the lead to two when second baseman Goran Huyghe hit a solo home run that just cleared the left field fence. However, Namur responded with two runs of its own in the top of the third. Hummel ripped a leadoff line drive to straightaway center and it appeared it was going to be caught, but the Spartans center fielder misplayed it, and the ball tipped off his glove and allowed Hummel to trot into second base. The next two batters drew free passes, as Rosario was walked and Nauts was hit by a fastball. With the bases loaded, Thomas Vandenabeele stepped to the plate, but before a swing was registered, a wild pitch allowed Hummel to score from third and advance the runners. Two pitches later, Vandenabeele hit a deep fly ball to right field to score Nauts. The Spartans would add one run in the bottom of the third via wild pitch, and one more in the bottom of the fourth before being held scoreless the rest of the game.
The Angels final run came in the sixth when Van Sickler singled to right, followed by a Hummel single to left. Rosario advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Nauts then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Van Sickler.
Hummel was relieved after seven complete innings, as Van Sickler came on for the final two frames. He closed the door for the Spartans to record the final six outs, striking out three. Van Sickler finished 2-4 on the day with two runs scored. Cedric Nauts was also very productive at the plate going 1-3, while driving in two runs.
Angels Lose Heartbreaker in Ninth Inning
After a solid victory on Saturday, the Angels would come up empty in a nail biting Sunday contest thriller against the Spartans. Deurne was able to scratch the winning run across the plate in the bottom of the ninth for a walk off, 1-0 victory over the Angels.
Both teams had numerous chances to push runs across early, but near flawless defense from both squads prevented any action. In the top of the first, the Angels had runners at second and third with no outs, after Theodore De Bellefroid singled, followed by a walk to Greg Van Sickler. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Jake Hummel then hit a laser line drive to left field, but the ball was hit too hard and De Bellefroid could not tag from third in time. Spartans starter Alexis Marquez then retired the next two Angels batters via strikeout and groundout to end the threat. Marquez would get the win for the Spartans as he threw all nine innings, giving up no runs on three hits, walked eight, and struck out ten.
The Spartans would get their chance in the bottom of the first off Angels starter Kevin Desmedt. After two quick outs, Desmedt walked the next three batters to load the bases. However, he was able to induce a groundball to shortstop from six hole hitter Jeroen Van Nuffel to escape the first unscathed. The Spartans would make for a dramatic second inning, as well. Alexis Marquez leadoff and reached on an infield error. He advanced to second after Ayker Cardenas singled right behind him. With runners at first and second, Nick De Vriendt hit a groundball fielder’s choice to third and Marquez was retired. However, Morris De Vriendt then reached on another infield error to load the bases with one out. Johan Silva stepped to the plate and hit a groundball to first baseman Ludovic Geuquet, who stepped on first and quickly fired to home plate, where catcher Vincent King tagged out Cardenas for the inning ending double play.
Because of pitching on Thursday, Desmedt was relieved after two innings of work. He gave up no runs, two hits, and walked three. His successor was Nicolas Migeot, who would throw six shutout innings of relief, giving up just three hits. In his first three innings of relief, Migeot retired nine straight Spartan hitters.
The Angels had another opportunity for a run in the top of the third inning with bases loaded and two outs, but Marquez was able to get a strikeout to getaway unharmed. Namur had another great chance in the fifth inning after Van Sickler hit a two out double to straightaway center. An intentional walk to Hummel put another runner on, but the Angels came up short again after another inning ending strikeout from Marquez kept the game scoreless.
It appeared the Spartans would score in the bottom of the eighth when Migeot was faced with runners at first and third and one out. However, he induced a groundball that started an inning ending 4-6-3 double play, and the game went into the ninth inning tied 0-0. In the top of the ninth, Van Sickler drew a leadoff walk. Hummel followed with a fly ball to right for the first out of the inning. Van Sickler advanced to second after a fielder’s choice to third base hit by Vincent King. Williams Rosario then walked the next at bat. With runners at first and second with two outs, Marquez again got of the jam with another inning ending strikeout.
Migeot was relieved after the eighth, as Cedric Desmedt came on to pitch the ninth. His first batter he faced was starting pitcher Alexis Marquez, who laid a drag bunt down that Desmedt could not field in time, and the Spartans had the winning run aboard. A wild pitch advanced Marquez to second. The next batter, Ayker Cardenas, hit a groundball to second to advance Marquez to third. With the winning run 90 feet away, Nick De Vriendt stepped to the plate. However, before Vriendt would register a swing, a high changeup hit off of the glove of the Angels catcher and trickled to the backstop. Marquez would race across the plate for the walk off run.
Despite the loss, the Angels played exceptional defense and got a tremendous pitching performance from all three pitchers. Namur was unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position, as Marquez proved to be too dominating in clutch situations. With the loss, the Angels fall to 10-4 on the season. They are back in action on Saturday against the Mortsel Stars.