Montigny Cougars – La Guerche Hawks 2-5, 8-11
Game 1:
GUE 010 004 000 5 7 2 MON 100 000 010 2 10 3
The French Elite League continued with just one matchup last weekend, as the other three scheduled dates were postponed due to different reasons. The promoted club MONTIGNY hosted the HAWKS in a doubleheader and LA GUERCHE prevailed in both games.
In the first match, they used a four-run sixth en route to a 5-2 victory, highlighted by RBI doubles from Sebastien Vezina and Laurent Perriguey. Catcher Chris Patterson and second baseman Jason Holowaty debuted for MONTIGNY. Patterson, who went to North Dakota State and played for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League, joined the team last week. Nicolas Launay scored both runs for the COUGARS.
Anthony Piquet (W 1-1) picked up the win with eight solid innings, allowing seven hits, two runs (1 ER) and a walk. He struck out five. Jean Baptiste Couton (L 0-1) got the starting nod for the home team. He surrendered eight hits, five runs and six bb in 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven.
Game 2 :
GUE 003 303 011 11 6 4 MON 001 003 004 8 10 2
In the second game the HAWKS scored three runs each in the third, fourth and sixth frame to build a 9-1 lead midway through the sixth inning. MONTIGNY rallied for seven runs until the end, but it wasn’t enough to erase the deficit, especially after LA GUERCHE added two more runs in an 11-8 win. Sebastien Vezina led the guest offense with two hits and four RBI. Anthony Piquet scored twice and drove in three.
Sebastien Duchossoy, Chris Patterson and Noel Ehrt picked up two RBI each for the COUGARS, which had two men on with one out in the ninth, but Christophe Herard and Wesley Coopman struck out to end the comeback hopes.
Kyle Gruver (W 2-0) struck out ten in seven innings for his second win of the season. He allowed four hits, four runs and five bb. Patterson (L 0-1) made also his debut on the mound, though it wasn’t a good one, as he was hit hard. He conceded six hits, nine runs and seven walks in six innings.
Boxscore, Play-by-Play on Cougars Website (.pdf-file)
{mrb-standing:france-2009}