by A.P. Beauregard, www.namur-angels.be
Despite building a 5-0 lead after five innings, the Namur Angels were unable to recover from the six runs put up in the top of the sixth by visiting K. Deurne as they dropped their first game since the season opener. Losing pitcher Shouta Ichinoseki pitched very well for the hometown Angels only to have his performance undone by some shaky defense.
Saturday, May 1st, opened up very promising for Namur as leadoff hitter Gracjan Kraszewski deposited the second pitch of the game over the right-field wall for a leadoff homerun. Singles by Thomas Vandenabeele and Theodore De Bellefroid put Namur up 3-0 in the first and the game would continue on smoothly and uneventfully until the aforementioned sixth. That inning, riding a mixed combination of hitting and defensive lapses from the Angels, K. Deurne scored all the runs they would put up, and need, in a game which would end 6-5.
Starting pitcher Alexis Marquez went the distance picking up the win for the Spartans while both Morris De Vriendt and Johan Silva contributed 2-4 days at the plate.
The Angels had seven players hit safely on the afternoon headlined by first baseman Ludovic Geuquet who went 3-5.
On Sunday, May 2nd, the teams concluded the weekend series in Deurne and it was pitching which would rule the day on an unseasonably cold and blustery afternoon. Both starters pitched exceptional as Namur righty Cedric Desmedt allowed only two runs (both unearned) after six innings of work, while Spartan lefty Roger De Saedeleer carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
Heading into the top half of the seventh and down 2-0, Namur answered when Gracjan Kraszewski doubled to left-field to leadoff the inning. Jerome Sana brought him in with an RBI groundout to first, followed by another double to left by shortstop Theodore De Bellefroid. De Bellefroid would even the score moments later on a heads-up play from Angels left-fielder Adrien Geuquet. Having walked to put runners on first and third, Geuquet broke for second and intentionally got in a run-down to allow De Bellefroid time to score from third. Although Geuquet also reached second safely he was unable to advance further and the teams headed to the bottom of the seventh tied 2-2.
Into the bottom of the eighth, the score still unchanged, Alexis Marquez hit a two-run homerun to left off Angels’ reliever Harold Gerard that proved to be the difference in a 4-2 K. Deurne victory. Relief pitcher Sharlon LeBacks picked up the win with Gerard suffering his first loss of the season (2-1).
Base hits were hard to come by as only four players from both teams combined were able to reach base by such a result. De Bellefroid and Kraszewski were both 1-4 for Namur while Marquez (2-3) and Johan Silva (2-4) provided Deurne’s offensive output.
{mrb-result:2010-05-01|2010-05-02|BE}
{mrb-standing:belgium-2010}