Four doubleheaders were scheduled for last weekend. Toulouse vs. La Rochelle were postponed to Sunday, May 1st due to a Rain Out, leaving the field waterlogged and unplayable. One of the matchups, Rouen vs. Savigny, was streamed simultaneously on Huskies TV’s YouTube channel and Baseball TV France (App and Website).
Rouen put their nerves at ease by securing two wins on their home turf against a team that could have caused trouble this season. Montigny, also winning twice against PUC, now shares the provisional top spot in Pool A. These four victories were decisive, and the dominance of Montigny and Rouen in this pool seems already secured, potentially killing the suspense early in the season. However, one question remains: Metz, who haven’t started their championship yet, leaves us in the dark about their capabilities against Rouen or Montigny. We’ll know more next week when Metz travels to Montigny.
In Pool B, the Barracudas of Montpellier’s double victory has dimmed the hopes for Cavigal Nice to salvage their season. Their six losses leave them with no choice but to regroup and fight for relevance in this pool.
On the player front, notable batting averages were achieved by Mayeux from Montigny and Teramura from Nice.
On the pitching side, Canelon from Montpellier continues his strong run with an impressive ERA after two wins, and Antoine Rault, the French pitcher from Montigny, also delivered a stellar performance.
Analysis by Benjamin Witte
NICE – The second round of the French presidential election wasn’t the only event that took place on Sunday, with a fair share of drama and uncertainty.
There were also plenty of big questions hanging in the air in D1 baseball, starting with the weather, which threatened to put a damper on the action in the four cities scheduled to host games during the third weekend of play in the French league.
In Toulouse, where the Tigers (0-2) were set to host the Boucaniers de La Rochelle (3-1), rain forced the teams to cancel their two games. But elsewhere, including on an unusually cool Côte d’Azur, the matchups went ahead as planned.
That was good news for the Barracudas de Montpellier, whose sleepy players and coaches – as well as a bleary-eyed baseball blogger – had hit the road Sunday before dawn with serious concerns that they might make the long there-and-back to Nice for nothing.
But by the time the Montpellier team arrived, the rain that had soaked the area overnight and continued falling in the morning had finally stopped, and thanks to some last-minute landscaping by Nice Cavigal star Jonathan Montas and his teammates, their normally dusty field was still damp but in good enough shape for the two teams to Play Ball!
Coming off a loss in their last outing (against the Boucaniers), Montpellier (1-1) was eager to flex their muscles against a Nice team that had yet to win a game this year. Instead, the Barracudas found themselves fighting an uphill battle, especially in the opening match, as their powerful lineup once again failed to really explode.
The Venezuelan ace from Montpellier, Kevin Canelón, did his part, striking out 12 in 6.2 innings and holding Nice Cavigal to just one run and five hits. But at the plate, unable to do much against pitcher Naoki Teramura (six innings, seven strikeouts), the Barracudas found themselves, entering the seventh, trailing in the game 0-1.
The turning point came only after Nice brought in Noah Enrione Thorrand to replace Teramura. The reliever walked two batters. That brought Luís Delogu to the plate, and with a powerful swing, a three-run HR over the right-field fence, the Barracudas finally took control.
Nice fought back with a run in the bottom of the seventh, when Gauthier Rouleau got a hit and an RBI against pitcher Owen Ozanich. The run was scored by Jonathan Montas, who had doubled earlier in the inning. Rouleau and Montas both finished the game with two hits each, as did Nice’s player-manager, Hasley Medina, from Cuba.
In the eighth and ninth, however, Ozanich found his rhythm, and the Montpellier offense added two more runs to seal the game with a final score of 5-2.
The Barracudas, as expected, also won the afternoon match – by a score of 9-1. But even then, the team didn’t look as strong as they had hoped to be.
Mathis Nayral, who turned 18, had a solid outing, striking out five and allowing just one run in six innings. And yet, Nice kept things uncomfortably close for Montpellier, who led by just one run after seven innings.
From there, however, the offense finally kicked into gear, scoring two runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to seal the deal. Ariel Soriano finished the game with three hits, and Montpellier’s French contingent of Mathis Guiraud, Pierre Doat, and Nicolas Khoury each had two hits apiece.
Interestingly, the game marked the D1 debut of Kenjiro Sugiura, a Japanese rookie who hails from the same city, it seems, as Teramura. The “two-way” player pitched two scorching innings to get the save. Expect to hear his name more often in the coming weeks.
With the wins, the Barracudas move to 3-1, tying them with La Rochelle for second place in Group B, behind the 4-0 Sénart Templiers. Nice Cavigal, at 0-6, sits in last place.
Like Cats and Dogs
Things are tight at the top of Group A as well after the doubleheaders at Stade Pershing in Paris and in Rouen, home of the Huskies, the reigning D1 champions.
Like the Barracudas, the Huskies hadn’t played since the season-opening weekend (April 10) and had a 1-1 record heading into the day. But rather than facing a winless opponent, Rouen had the daunting task on Sunday of taking on the Lions de Savigny, who had swept Paris UC the previous week, scoring a total of 25 runs in two games.
It was a huge early-season test for both teams, but in this case, things went heavily in favor of the Huskies, who managed, in the first game, to score early and often off Savigny’s starting pitcher, Gédéon Coste.
Rouen collected seven hits and eight walks from the French pitcher, and was able to capitalize by scoring eight runs. One of the biggest hits of the game came from Venezuelan rookie Javier Hernández, a former Toronto Blue Jays prospect, who made his D1 debut on Sunday and hit a sixth-inning double that scored two runs.
Rouen’s starting pitcher, Esteban Prioul, also had a solid outing, allowing just three hits (and three runs) in six innings while striking out seven. Felix Carvallo got the save, his second of the year, allowing just one hit in three innings.
The Huskies also got big contributions from their foreign rookies in the second game. Hernández finished the game with two hits, and pitcher Yaeferson Gómez struck out eight in 6.2 innings while holding the powerful Savigny lineup to just two runs.
Maxime Lefevre also shone for Rouen, collecting three hits. Teammates Dylan Gleeson, Bastien Dagneau, Joris Bert, and Gabriel Harrison each had two hits apiece.
With the sweep, the Huskies move to 3-1, giving them a one-game lead over the Lions (2-2) in the Group A standings.
The Cougars Keep Pace
Rouen and Savigny were the two Group A semifinalists last year, and both are obviously hoping to repeat the feat this year. To do so, however, they’ll again have to get past Montigny, and the Cougars – who split a pair with the Huskies on opening weekend – aren’t thrilled about the prospect.
To keep pace with Rouen, Montigny needed its own sweep this weekend, and that’s exactly what they got against Paris UC, who fall to 0-4 and now hold the last place in Group A.
In the opening game, Montigny pitcher Robinson Maestre, a new recruit from Venezuela, held the home team to just one run in eight innings. He allowed six hits and had nine strikeouts.
The offense, meanwhile, scored Paris UC for eight runs on 11 hits, including two by Argentine rookie Agustín Tissera, who is one of the league leaders with eight hits this season. Gabriel Do Carmo, Rafael Jimenez, and Dylan Mayeux also each had two hits in the game.
The Cougars also scored heavily in the afternoon game, with 11 runs on nine hits. Paris UC’s starter Harvey García lasted just four innings. García, who briefly played in the MLB earlier in his career, struck out six but allowed four runs on five hits.
The Cougars will play again next Sunday against the Metz Cometz, who haven’t yet taken the field this season but will have a busy schedule ahead. The Cometz play the following week (May 8) at home against the Huskies, before traveling to Savigny to face the Lions (May 15
