by Namur Angels, www.namur-angels.be
The Namur Angels opened up their 2012 campaign with a pair of victories after a weekend sweep of the Borgerhout Squirrels. In Saturday’s contest, the Angels came out victorious after fighting back from an early deficit. The Squirrels jumped out to a 5-0 lead, capitalizing on a few walks from Angels’ starter Cedric Desmedt and advancing extra bases on several passed balls. Desmedt left the game after four innings of work giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits, 5 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Nicolas Migeot started the fifth inning for the Angels in relief, and held the Squirrels scoreless for the remainder of the game. He allowed 0 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 3 in five masterful innings for the Angels.
Down 5-0 in the fifth, the Angels got things started when Cedric Nauts singled to start the frame. Ludovic Geuquet doubled to left center, advancing Nauts to third. With two runners in scoring position, catcher Julien Soree grounded out to second base, plating Nauts and advancing Geuquet to third. Leadoff hitter Thomas Vandenabeele then grounded out to shortstop, bringing across another Angels run. After five innings, the lead had been cut to 5-2 in favor of the Squirrels.
In the top of the sixth, after a one out walk to designated hitter Williams Angel Rosario, Jake Hummel laced a double into the right center gap, holding Rosario at third base. Adrien Geuquet, the Angels’ left fielder, delivered a sacrifice fly to center, plating Rosario. With the score 5-3, Cedric Nauts smacked a line drive off of Squirrel’s starter Yannick Gonzier, and an errant throw by the second baseman allowed Hummel to score from second base. The Angel’s delivered in the top of the sixth and cut the Borgerhout lead to one.
A four run seventh inning for the Angels started with a Squirrels pitching change. Gonthier was relieved after six innings for right-hander Jason Jie Sam Foek. In the top of the seventh inning, a leadoff walk to Vandenabeele and a passed ball allowed him to advance to second. Shortstop Vincent King then delivered the tying run with a line drive single to right field. The go ahead run came in the same inning when Hummel singled to left center and brought home Greg Van Sickler. After a string of errors, walks, and hit batsmen, the Squirrels finally ended the nightmare seventh when relief pitcher Glenn Mareels recorded a strike out. From there, the Angels would take a lead it would not relinquish. In the 9-5 victory, Ludovic Geuquet was 2-5 with 2 RBI, while both Hummel and Van Sickler each drove in a run with a 2-5 performance, respectively. William Gilmore reached base 4 out of 5 times recording 2 hits and 3 stolen bases for the Squirrels.
The weekend series concluded on Sunday with another Angels’ victory in an 11-4 win. Namur quickly jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead after singles from Thomas Vandenabeele, Theodore De Bellefroid, and Greg Van Sickler loaded the bases to start the game. Williams Angel Rosario then crushed a bases clearing double to the right center gap. That was all the offense Angels starter Greg Van Sickler needed for his European debut. Van Sickler was perfect for the first three innings of the game, before running into trouble in the fourth. He surrendered his first hit of the game in the fourth inning to Squirrels’ centerfielder Steven Delannoy. After his single, Delannoy then stole second and Van Sickler walked Dennis Ribbens the next at bat. After a sac bunt by catcher Sam Boermans to advance the runners, Kevin Vervloet delivered a sac fly to plate Delannoy for the Squirrels’ first run. A walk to William Gilmore put runners on the corners and a dropped pick off attempt at first allowed Ribbens to score from third, bringing across the second run for the Squirrels. Van Sickler finished the frame via groundout with the Angels leading 3-2 going into the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, after a strikeout, Tim Verachtert singled and stole second to begin an eventful fifth inning. Juan Alcantara Reyes then hit a groundball to deep shortstop that Bellefroid could not handle, allowing Verachtert to advance to third. With runners on the corners and the score 3-2 in favor of the Angels, Van Sickler picked off Reyes at first for the second out of the inning. He then struck out Steven Delannoy to end the threat and escape the fifth inning. Van Sickler finished 5 innings of work giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks, and he struck out 9. Fellow American Jake Hummel came on in relief for Van Sickler, who although allowed the Squirrels to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, was able to make amends.
The devastating blow came in the top of the seventh inning. Squirrels’ starter Louis Larrinaga was lifted in the seventh after a leadoff hit by Adrien Geuquet. The Squirrel pitching staff brought in right-hander Anthony Winborne. His first batter was Hummel. With one aboard and with the first pitch he saw from Winborne, Hummel blasted it to deep left center and over the fence for a two run homerun. It was Hummel’s first and the Angels’ first homerun of the year. That two run shot put the Angels up 5-3 and they did not look back from then on. Winborne gave up four earned runs while walking four in his 1/3 innings of work. He was lifted in the inning for reliever Glenn Mareels, who got two fly outs to end the seventh. Michael Leys came in to pitch for the Squirrels in the eighth and surrendered three more Angels runs before the game was up. Hummel threw the final 4 innings, giving up 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 1. He finished 1-3 on the day with the game changing blast in the seventh inning. Williams Rosario also provided big offense for the Angels with a 3 run double in the first inning. The Angels are back in action on Saturday, April 21st against the Brasschaat Braves.