D1 Baseball: At the halfway point of the regular season
The regular season of France’s top baseball league, D1, has now reached its midpoint, and after last weekend’s games, the top teams continue to pull away from the pack.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the Normandy city of Rouen, where the defending D1 champions, Rouen Huskies, crushed Paris UC by a combined 30 runs in two mercy-rule-shortened games that lasted just seven and five innings respectively.
In the first game, the Parisians at least managed to score a few runs despite a 10-strikeout performance from Rouen’s starting pitcher, Esteban Prioul, who now boasts a perfect 3-0 record on the season. But with Rouen’s balanced offense firing on all cylinders, Paris UC never really stood a chance.
The home team collected 17 hits in the game, including two – both home runs – from slugger Bastien Dagneau, who has been on fire this year after an exceptional performance in a pre-season tournament in the Canary Islands for the French national team.
Seven of Rouen’s nine batters had multiple hits in the game, including shortstop Gabriel Harrison, who went 3-for-4, and Hugo Blondel, who has been red-hot lately and now has 16 hits on the season, tied with teammate Dagneau for the league lead.
The hit parade continued for the Huskies in the afternoon game. They scored 13 runs in just the first three innings, including two thanks to a second-inning bomb from Dagneau, who drove in an incredible 11 runs on the day – five in the first game and six in the second. Blondel went 2-for-2 to boost his batting average to .485, and Louis Brainville had three hits in the game.
Meanwhile, Rouen’s starter in the second game, Quentin Moulin, dominated on the mound, striking out eight and allowing just two hits in five innings. With Rouen leading 20-0 at that point, the game ended early.
With the win, Moulin improved to 3-1 on the season, and the Huskies, as a team, boosted their record to 7-1, leading not only their division (Group A) but the entire D1 league. Paris UC, with six losses and no wins, sits at the bottom of the group.
The Lions bounce back
The Cougars of Montigny (6-2), who had a week off after playing three consecutive weekends, including on International Workers’ Day.
But the only other team in Group A with a shot at making the playoffs took the field Sunday, in their case against Metz Cometz, who, like Paris UC, have yet to win a game this year.
The team in question is the Lions of Savigny, who reached the semifinals last year but entered the weekend with a 3-3 record after a pair of heartbreaking losses (both games decided by one run) the previous Sunday against Montigny.
Against the Cometz, as expected, the Lions fared better, winning the first game 5-0 despite a solid performance from Metz pitcher Patrick Jordan. The American import allowed just three hits in seven innings while striking out six.
However, errors cost his team dearly, as did their inability to put runs on the board despite six hits in the game, four against Savigny’s starting pitcher, Gédéon Coste, and two against Alexis Paredes, who had nine strikeouts – in just four innings!
Savigny also won the afternoon game, but perhaps not as convincingly as they would have liked given how explosive their lineup can sometimes be. Still, they scored seven runs and Tom Dahan and Ivan Acuña each had three hits.
Nevertheless, the Cometz refused to « go quietly into the night » and actually led the game at one point thanks to a big third inning, in which they scored three runs on four hits. American rookie Trevor Rogers had two hits in the game (and four on the day). Markus Melendez, another U.S. import, also had two hits, as did teenager Alexandre Frulloni.
Savigny, however, fought back, scoring two runs in the seventh inning and adding another in the eighth to win the game 7-5. Pitcher Evertz Orozco, who pitched six innings in relief after replacing Firmin Hassed, earned the win, his first of the year.
With a 5-3 record, the Lions trail the Huskies and Cougars in Group A but will look to gain ground in their next game, on June 12, against winless Paris UC. The Cometz fall to 0-6 but have a decent chance of finally entering the win column over the next two weekends, when they will play four games against the winless Parisians.
The Tigers take two
On the sunny French Riviera, Group B had its own « battle of the winless » Sunday, when Nice Cavigal, 0-6 heading into the weekend, hosted the Tigers of Toulouse, who had lost their first four games – two against the Sénart Templiers, and two the previous weekend against the Montpellier Barracudas.
Against Nice, however, things finally turned in Toulouse’s favor thanks in large part to strong performances from their two starting pitchers: Jhon Will García and Edilson Batista.
In the opening game, García allowed just six hits and no runs in seven innings. He also recorded nine strikeouts. Jossue Mendoza helped on the offensive side, who hit a home run in the second inning and a double in the fourth.
The Stade Toulousain finished by winning the game 5-0. They also won the afternoon game, 3-1, with Mendoza again providing the bulk of the offense. On the mound, Batista was in command, allowing just two hits in five innings before being relieved by Euri García.
Battle of the titans
That brings us to the fourth matchup of the weekend, and the most consequential. We’re talking about the showdown between the two titans of Group B, Sénart and Montpellier, who entered their high-stakes showdown tied for first place with identical 5-1 records.
The rival teams clearly had these games circled on their calendars, and the competition – starting with a Saturday night match under the lights at the Templiers’ stadium in Lieusaint – did not disappoint.
This game featured two of the league’s best pitchers, Shane Priest (Sénart) and Kevin Canelón (Montpellier), and as expected, it was a defensive duel. Priest, in his second season with the Templiers, allowed just one (unearned) run in seven innings. But Canelón was even sharper on the mound, allowing just three hits and zero runs while recording eight strikeouts.
The Barracudas scored three more runs in the eighth inning against reliever Mathis Meurant, while their own reliever, Mathis Nayral, limited the Templiers to one hit (and one unearned run) in two innings of work. Final score: 4-1 for Montpellier.
Things, however, took a different turn Sunday, when the teams faced off again. Montpellier’s pitcher Owen Ozanich struck out six batters, but allowed six runs (four earned) in part due to a number of costly defensive errors by his teammates.
His counterpart, Carlos Eusebio, had the better of this duel, allowing five hits but limiting Montpellier to just three runs in a complete game. The Dominican pitcher also recorded 10 strikeouts in his D1 debut as a starter.
The split result leaves the Templiers and Barracudas once again tied for first place in the pool, with 6-2 records. Sénart plays next weekend in Nice. Montpellier will also be on the road, but will face a much tougher challenge against the 4-2 Boucaniers of La Rochelle.
Benjamin Witte
