French Finals Game 2, in Rouen:
(0-2) Savigny Lions – Rouen Huskies 2-5
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After Saturday’s opener of the French Finals ended with a hit by pitch in the eleventh inning, Sunday’s game two was decided in the first nine innings. ROUEN again prevailed and took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series after winning 5-2.
The LIONS had the better start, putting the first run on the board in the opening period on a sac fly by Tim Stewart. They could have scored more in the frame, but Pierrick Lemestre was thrown out at home by right fielder Joris Bert.
The defensive play also woke up the offense of ROUEN, which came through in the second. Flavien Peron doubled in Luc Piquet and Boris Marche for a 2-1 advantage. In the sixth they added two more runs on a RBI double by David Gauthier and a RBI triple by Marche.
SAVIGNY cut the deficit to two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI single by Steven Huff and they even loaded the bases with one out. But a double play of Christophe Goniot denied the potential game-tying rally. A sac fly by Piquet in the eighth sealed the three-run win of the HUSKIES. The game ended in the ninth, when pinch runner Amin Touahri was picked off by closer Keino Perez (S 1).
After Perez already pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief on Saturday, Giovanni Ouin (W 1-0) received the starting nod for ROUEN. He gave up seven hits, two runs (1 ER) and a walk in 5 1/3 innings, striking out one. Perez closed it out again with four strikeouts in 3 2/3 one-hit, one-walk innings of relief. Tim Stewart (L 0-1) issued six hits, five runs (4 ER) and four bb in eight innings. He struck out six.
Games three to potential five will be played at the LIONS ballpark next weekend.
Recap Game 1 French Finals: Rouen – Savigny 6-5
Stadeo.tv is on hand for the French finals. Their reportage about game one of the best-of-five series is available as video on demand.