The Namur Angels have needed just one win this weekend against the Merksem Royal Grey to clinch a spot in their first Belgian Series since 1998. They came out on Saturday (10.09.2011) and left no doubt that they deserved that final spot. The Angels jumped all over the Greys in the first few innings and built a lead that was never in jeopardy, cruising to a 12-6 win. The Angels will face off against the Hoboken Pioneers in a best-of-five series beginning on September 24th.
In the first inning the Angels scored three runs after Angel Williams Rosario reached on an error allowing Vincent King to score and opened the door for Michael Benton to hit a two-run homer. The Greys punched back with three runs of their own on two homers but the Angels would not be denied. With two outs and the bases loaded in the second inning, Nicholas Frederick hit a Grand Slam to put the Angels back on top for good. The Angels then tacked on four more in the third inning on four hits and another error by the Greys, extending the lead to eight. After the Greys scored a couple more runs, Benton hit his second home run of the game for his second multi-homer game in a weeks time, leading to the final score of 12-6.
Nicolas Migeot made his first start for the Angels this postseason and had a great performance, settling down after a rough first inning to give his team 7 1/3 solid innings, allowing 5 runs, 3 earned, on 8 hits, 4 walks and a strikeout while earning the win. Adrien Stokart came in and finished the rest of the game allowing just one run on 2 hits and a walk.
The Angels pounded the Grey’s pitching for 16 hits, including at least one by every member of the starting line-up. Michael Benton, Vincent King, and Ludovic Geuquet had three hits apiece while Frederick had two.
Sunday (11.09.2011) the Angels finished the series against the Greys in a meaningless game as the finals had already been decided. The game was a great opportunity to give some well deserved playing time to players who have worked hard all season but hadn’t seen a lot of playing time as well as the young players who will be the future of the Namur Angels. After giving the usual starters a few innings to stay in shape, changes were made all throughout the line-up allowing 7 other players to see time on the field. Unfortunately, the Angels fell by a score of 11-8.
Justin Latta got the start for the Angels and made quick work of the Grey’s hitters, facing the minimum through 3 innings on 33 pitches. Louis Dellieu pitched the 4th inning and struggled a bit in his first outing in over a year allowing 4 runs. Stephane Daspremont came in next and pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed 3 runs before Virgile Goyens came in and finished the 6th inning and got two outs in the 7th before losing his command and getting into trouble. Kevin Desmedt was the last Angels pitcher to throw, going 2 1/3 innings allowing 2 runs.
The Angels put a runner on base every inning and managed 11 hits and 9 walks but they couldn’t bring enough men across home plate in the loss. Michael Benton continued his power streak with another home run, his 5th of the postseason, while Nicholas Frederick had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s while Theodore de Bellefroid had two doubles and an RBI.