Montigny Cougars – Rouen Huskies 1-5, 8-16
Defending champion Rouen opened the 2010 season in France with two victories in Montigny. In game one the Cougars took an early 1-0 lead in the second on a RBI double by Tom Mayeux. They held on to the advantage, until the seventh, when the Huskies put four runs on the board en route to a 5-1 win. A sac fly by Saad Anouar evened the score before a RBI single by Aldo Ramelet put Rouen ahead. A wild pitch, a RBI triple by Luc Piquet and a RBI single by Quentin Becquey sealed the win. Keino Perez (W 1-0) allowed just one run on five hits in six innings for the win. He threw 60 of his 93 pitches for strikes. Justin Fry (L 0-1) threw 131 pitches (80 strikes) over seven innings in his French debut. He gave up six hits, four runs and four walks.
The second match was decided early, as Rouen scored ten runs between the second and fourth frame and later added six more to prevail 16-8. Former Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Joris Bert homered and drove in four. Maxime Lefevre, against his former club, Boris Marche and David Gauthier scored three runs apiece. Olivier Berrebi went 4-for-5 with four runs scored for Montigny. Giovanni Ouin (W 1-0) issued five hits, six runs (3 ER) and six walks in six innings for the win. Sebastien Duchossoy (L 0-1) surrendered six hits, seven runs (6 ER) and a bb in three innings.
Box scores for both games are available on Rouenbaseball76.com
Montpellier Barracudas – Templiers Senart 2-13, 6-5
The Barracudas and the Templiers settled for a split in their first doubleheader of the season. In game one Samuel Meurant led Senart to a 13-2 win with a complete game on the mound. Gregory Cros threw 140 pitches in the loss for Montpellier. Andy Pitcher also got in the game.
In the second part of the twin bill, the Barracudas took an early 3-0 lead in the opening frame, but Senart came back to even the score in the sixth. However Montpellier answered right away with another three-run rally. The guests tried to erase the deficit again, but were stopped in time by closer Laurent Andrades for a final score of 6-5. Joris Navarro (BAR) and Mathieu Brelle-Andrade (SEN) were the starting pitchers.
Stade Toulousain – Savigny Lions 6-9, 5-4
While the weather in some parts of Europe was pretty chilly the past weekend this wasn’t the case in Toulouse, where Stade Toulousain met the Savigny Lions under sunny conditions with temperatures well over 25°C. This might was the cause that the home team was able to stun last year’s championship runner up with a split. In game one the Lions got off to a fast start, taking a 6-0 lead, but the Tigers came back and evened the score in the seventh. But Savigny prevailed 9-6 in the end. In the second match the Lions again take a comfortable lead, but this time Stade Toulousain was able to complete the comeback, erasing a 0-4 deficit in the eighth on their way to a 5-4 win.
The seventh team in the French Elite League, Paris UC, had a bye in week one.
Standings
| # | Team | W | L | R+ | R- | .pct | GB | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lions Savigny sur Orge | 20 | 4 | 215 | 122 | .833 | 0 | W7 |
| 2 | Montpellier Barracudas | 18 | 6 | 215 | 114 | .750 | 2 | W4 |
| 3 | Rouen Huskies | 17 | 7 | 157 | 67 | .708 | 3 | W2 |
| 4 | Templiers Senart | 12 | 12 | 149 | 123 | .500 | 8 | L4 |
| 5 | Stade Toulousain Baseball | 9 | 15 | 124 | 158 | .375 | 11 | L3 |
| 6 | Cougars de Montigny | 5 | 19 | 129 | 246 | .208 | 15 | W2 |
| 7 | Paris Université Club | 3 | 21 | 117 | 276 | .125 | 17 | L10 |
