15 games in 5 days, 7 teams, 6 countries: Rouen hosts the Confederations Cup. A baseball festival that, we hope, will end in a fireworks display for the two French clubs involved.
While Europe’s top clubs battle it out for the European Champions Cup in Bonn, two French teams are in the running until Sunday to win the Confederations Cup, a sort of European second division, and try to bring France back among the continent’s elite. The Rouen Huskies (hosting the competition) and the Montpellier Barracudas will have this heavy task ahead of them, facing a rather solid opposition led by the Belgians from Hoboken and the Spaniards from Tenerife. Vienna, Karlovac, and Therwil seem a bit behind, but you always have to be careful, as shown by Montpellier’s 0-2 defeat against Vienna six years ago in Rouen, which was then the CEB Cup.
How did we get here? Last year, Rouen, after long maintaining France’s presence at the highest level and securing some prestigious victories over the years, completely missed the mark and finished dead last in the most prestigious European cup. On the other hand, Sénart, at home, was trapped in the tiebreaker by Brno and finished 2nd in the Confederations Cup. As a result, France is absent from the highest level of European competition, and what is true for the clubs is equally true for the national team.
Rouen finds itself in a group of three teams with Vienna and Hoboken. Minsk was supposed to complete the lineup, but the war in Ukraine led to the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian clubs, and the CEB did not deem it necessary to appoint a replacement team, which is a bit unfortunate for the balance of the competition. For the Rouennais, on the other hand, this is good news. A victory against Vienna on Thursday evening would probably open wide the doors to the semi-finals for them.
The Vienna Métrostars seem the least dangerous of the competitors. They are struggling in their championship, notably due to a pitching staff with a collective ERA above 6.40. The Therwil Flyers are used to European matches. They have three consecutive titles under their belt. We will pay attention to the offense of Takanobu Oshima (.455, 2 HR) and Sven Leeman, and on the mound to the Australian Christopher Horle (1.80 ERA, 22 K in 15 IP). Karlovac can be considered an outsider with a solid core lineup (Herrera, Gojkovic, Gales) and a starter, Antonio Horvatic, who pitched 4.1 good innings against Italy at the last European championship. The Croatians have a strong potential for resilience, as they were down 0-3 to Split in the final of their national championship last year before winning the last four games.
A very complete Hoboken team
Hoboken will be a formidable opponent. The Belgian champion still largely dominates its national competition and has no less than 7 Belgian internationals in its ranks. And we know that confrontations against Belgium have never been easy for France. The Marlins will also be a tough customer. They are far ahead in their championship pool with only one loss and have a fiery lineup with several hitters showing a lot of regularity and power (Encarnacion, Borges, Costales, Franco). But it is perhaps their bullpen that is the most impressive, with four very dominant pitchers, including the formidable Nicaraguan Ronald Merano and his 1.50 ERA, 46 K in 30 IP.
Rouen relies on its pitching
As is often the case in this type of competition, pitching will be decisive. Tenerife is particularly strong in this area, but Rouen can hold their own. The French Challenge has reassured the Rouennais about their depth. Prioul and Moulin are two solid starters, the young Mercadier demonstrated his nerves and talent in the final, Moscato can be of service, Lopez dominated the Sénart attack, and to top it all off, there is an Australian who not long ago played at a very high level, Todd Van Steensel. With all these arms for 4 games to play, Rouen is very well equipped. And as the Huskies’ offense, led by Dagneau, Brainville, and Blondel, seems not to want to cool down from the 1st to the 9th hitter, we can affirm that the Huskies can position themselves as legitimate favorites.
Barracudas in order
In Montpellier, it will be the Canelon – Ozanich duo that will be the star attraction. But the – young – Barracudas’ bullpen (Antonac, Neyral, Pontiac) has been a bit disappointing during the Challenge, although they will have an important role to play. It remains to be seen what lineup coach Mayeur will present, especially which foreign players will be retained to comply with European regulations. Steve Anderson woke up during the French Challenge (5 in 10) but a .282 average in the championship is insufficient. He will be a key player in Montpellier’s success, as Kovacs cannot carry the team’s offense alone, despite all his talent.
Let’s hope the two French clubs avoid the pitfalls and don’t meet in the semi-finals, which would guarantee a spot at the highest level for French baseball. This ideal scenario has already happened, in 2016, again in Rouen. The Huskies then won 5-2, behind an excellent Yoann Vaugelade who got the better of Will Musson. Rouen would certainly not ask for anything better than for history to repeat itself.
Now, let’s hope the rain doesn’t spoil the party, which is far from certain…
The schedule
Wednesday, June 8
10:00 AM: Hoboken – Vienna (A)
1:30 PM: Tenerife – Therwil (B)
5:00 PM: Montpellier – Karlovac (B)
Thursday, June 9
10:00 AM: Therwil – Karlovac (B)
1:30 PM: Montpellier – Tenerife (B)
5:00 PM: Vienna – Rouen (A)
Friday, June 10
10:00 AM: Therwil – Montpellier (B)
1:30 PM: Karlovac – Tenerife (B)
5:00 PM: Rouen – Hoboken (A)
Saturday, June 11
10:00 AM: 3rd group A – 4th group B
1:30 PM: 1st group B – 2nd group A
5:00 PM: 1st group A – 2nd group B
Sunday, June 12
9:00 AM: 3rd group B – 3rd group A
12:30 PM: Match for 3rd place
4:00 PM: Final
All matches will take place at the Pierre-Rolland field, Stade Saint-Exupéry in Rouen.
Full coverage of the competition on Huskies TV (YouTube).
François Colombier
