Savigny Lions – Rouen Huskies 5-3, 5-10
The Savigny Lions and the Rouen Huskies split a doubleheader in the French Elite League on Sunday. In game one Savigny overcame a 2-3 deficit by scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth en route to a 5-3 win. A RBI single by Eric Deblanc tied the game. Bases loaded walks by Thomas Salado and Christophe Goniot pushed the winning runs over the plate. Quentin Becquey had put Rouen in front with a RBI single in the top of the same frame. Pierrick Lemestre (W) and Keino Perez (L) each went the distance.
In the second match the Huskies avoided the sweep by scoring four runs in the second on their way to a 10-5 victory. Rickey Thomas scored three times. Boris Marche drove in two. Eric Deblanc had four hits for the Lions. Christophe Goniot collected two RBI. Anthony Piquet (W) pitched five innings, allowing nine hits, two runs and a walk for the win. Eloi Secleppe (L) was charged with five hits and four runs (1 ER) in two innings and the loss.
Templiers Senart – Montpellier Barracudas 8-1, 4-1
The Templiers Senart defeated the Montpellier Barracudas twice in a duel between the teams in second and third in the standings. In game one Senart had a quick 6-0 lead after three innings in an 8-1 win. Jean Antonio Samer hit a homerun. Jamel Boutagra drove in three. Samuel Meurant (W) allowed just six hits, a run and four walks in nine innings. Laurent Andrades (L) issued three hits, six runs (3 ER) and seven bb in six innings.
In the second game Kevin Atkinson and Ernesto Martinez combined for four RBI to lead the Templiers to a 4-1 victory. Atkinson went deep. He also pitched eight innings, giving up three hits, a run and three walks for the win. Rudolph Ware (L) conceded eight hits, four runs (2 ER) and four bb in seven innings.
Montigny Cougars – Stade Toulousain 0-10, 11-16
Stade Toulousain dispatched the winless Montigny Cougars on Sunday. In game one James Murrey (W) allowed just three hits and four walks in seven scoreless innings to lead Toulouse to a 10-0 shutout. He struck out eleven. Andy Paz and Luis De La Rosa Arno had two RBI apiece. Julien Higashima (L) gave up nine hits, ten runs (9 ER) and four bb in five innings.
The second game turned out to be a wild high-scoring affair. Toulouse took a quick 9-0 lead midway through the third. But Montigny fought back and used a seven-run fourth to cut the deficit to 8-10, making it a game. However in the end the Tigers chipped away and prevailed 16-11. Sebastien Morgavi went 3-for-4 with a homerun, four runs scored and three RBI for Stade Toulousain. Frederic Rouge drove in four. G. Bilweis went deep for the Cougars. Luis De La Rosa (W) picked up the win. Olivier Berrebi (L) took the loss. Both teams combined for 13 errors.
Pessac Panthers – Paris UC 10-12, 11-1
Recap by Jeff Stoeckel, Paris UC
Paris UC baseball traveled to Pessac last Sunday with many important players unavailable for the games because of injury or other commitments. However, after an afternoon of scratching and clawing, Paris UC managed to split with Pessac despite their absences.
In the first game, Pessac started the usually-dominant Patrice Briones (6.0 innings, 10 hits, 6 earned runs, 0 walks and 8 strikeouts) against Douglas Rodriguez (3.0 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts), who has stepped in during recent games to give the Paris UC pitching staff more depth. Paris did what few teams have been able to do against Briones– they exploded scoring 9 runs against the lefty capped by a 6-run 6th inning. The offense of Paris UC was matched by Pessac for most of the game, and the score remained tied at 9-9 after six innings of play. Nevertheless, Paris UC proved to have the stronger will in the game, scoring in each of the last 3 frames and relying on a fantastic relief effort from Nicolas Dubaut (3.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks and 2 strikeouts) to beat the Panthers 12-10. Offensively, Paris UC had 5 players with multiple hits, led by Oscar Saavedra and Douglas Rodriguez who recorded 3 hits each. For Pessac, Alex Defontaine and Guillaume Bouchard collected 3 hits a piece.
In the second game, pitching was more of a force as Pessac proved to have more depth and consistency, coming away with an 11-1 victory. Pessac starting pitcher Maxwell Tyler (8.0 innings, 8 hits, 1 earned run, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts) quieted the Paris UC bats after a hot first game. On the other side, poor defense proved to be the determining factor as Paris UC starting pitcher Maximin Monbeig (4.2 innings, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 4 walks and 1 strikeout) surrendered 8 runs with not one of them being earned. Additionally, a couple of botched plays that don’t show up on the score sheet killed Paris UC’s chances of winning the game, and give credit to Pessac for capitalizing on their opportunities. A pitcher’s battle in the beginning turned out to be a slugfest in the end, with Pessac pounding out all 11 of their runs in the final four innings. The Panthers’ offense was led by Yannick Villanueva who went a perfect 3-3 with 3 RBI, while Lucas Mangle added 2 hits and 2 RBI of his own. Paris UC newcomber Sean O’Hara kept his hot bat going as he added another multi-hit performance going 3-4 with the only run scored in the game.
When asked about the game, here is what Paris UC Head Coach Jeff Stoeckel had to say about his team’s performance: “Honestly, I was very happy with the outcome of the first game. Douglas went out there and gave us a few solid innings, and then when one of our relievers got in trouble, Nicolas shut the door on Pessac. In the first game, we simply responded every time Pessac pushed us into a corner, and as a coach, that’s a great sign. In the second game, we played horrendous defense. I think sometimes we try and do too much instead of just letting the game determine what we do. If you make all the right plays in baseball, and just some of the great plays, you usually win. We needed to make more of the routine plays, and we failed to do that in game two. Overall, we swung the bat well and I’m impressed with our progress this year.”
Box scores and Statistics are available at www.ffbsc.org
{mrb-standing:france-2011}