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The Borgerhout Squirrels have won the Federations Cup 2017 in Valencia, Spain. On Sunday they edged out the previously undefeated Astros Valencia 4-2 in the final. With the victory Borgerhout clinches a Belgian spot in the CEB Cup in 2018.
With the Astros’ loss in the final and CBS Sant Boi’s win at the Federations Cup Qualifier in Stockholm, Spain will have two spots in the Federations Cup next year. The Leksand Lumberjacks, Athletics Attnang-Puchheim and Buffaloes Blagoevgrad finished in fourth, fifth and sixth, as Sweden, Austria (although Austria also gains one after the Diving Ducks win in Belgrade) and Bulgaria drops a spot in the Federations Cup.
In the final Kenny van den Branden, who played for Curacao Neptunus Rotterdam last year, kept the Astros to eight hits, two runs and two walks in nine innings. He struck out seven for the win. At the plate Borgerhout scored in four of the first five innings to give him the necessary run support. Former Italian Baseball Leaguer Yulman Ribeiro got charged with the loss.
During the closing ceremony Yulman Ribeiro still was named Best Pitcher, while Kenny van den Branden earned MVP honors. His teammate Steven De Lannoy picked up the Best Batter trophy.
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Final Standing
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1
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 Borgerhout Squirrels (BEL) |
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2
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 Astros Valencia (ESP) |
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3
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Deu. Spartans Antwerp (BEL) |
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4
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 Leksand (SWE) |
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5
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 Ath. Attnang-Puchheim (AUT) |
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6
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 Buffaloes Blagoevgrad (BUL) |
All statistics of the Federations Cup can be found at www.baseballstats.eu