Europe: Rouen Triumphs

Confederation Cup

The resilience of the Huskies

What a cruel sport, baseball. What a terrible feeling to end a competition where you played so well with a walk with the bases loaded in the 9th inning. A truly undeserved ending for the Pioneers of Hoboken, who managed the European Cup perfectly, who played inspired and solid baseball, who surgically eliminated the powerful Marlins of Tenerife in the semifinals, and who pushed the Rouen Huskies to their limits. We will long remember Beebee Brayden’s pitching clinic, which frustrated the Spanish bats for 8 innings, the science of the Belgian small ball, laying down perfect bunts, the excellent use of the bullpen by the coach, and the spectacular plays by Rob Lewis in the final inning of the championship to delay the inevitable as long as possible. If Hoboken had won the competition, no one would have cried foul.

What a beautiful sport, baseball. What emotion to see the explosion of joy from the Rouennais after the unfortunate Owen Vanhillo failed to find the target with Dylan Gleeson at bat, pushing Joris Bert home.

A final like the Huskies have often won. Not necessarily by being the best, but often by being behind. But never panicking. Fighting pitch after pitch, hitting at the right moment, and ultimately making the difference when it mattered. And the joy shown after the final out was equal to the worries faced during the game, as well as the pleasure of high-level confrontations. After their success in the French Challenge final, the Huskies were happy, but not overly so. It’s a bit of ‘business as usual.’ Here, in the European atmosphere, against a team at least as talented as theirs, at the end of a nail-biter, in front of packed stands, it was an overflow of emotions that was expressed.

We can’t talk about this victory without mentioning a name. Of course, baseball is a team sport. But Bastien Dagneau dominated this Confederation Cup, and the MVP title is rightfully his. And his two-run shot in the 5th inning went a long way. From memory, it’s one of the longest, if not the longest, home runs hit at the Pierre-Rolland field. The Huskies’ right field seems to have leveled up this season. Good luck to the pitchers who will have to face him.

Everything started badly for the Huskies. Todd Van Steensel was nothing like the terror he was billed to be. True, he started with two quick outs. But after 3 walks and two hits, Hoboken was already leading 2-0. Walks also haunted the Belgians, as their starter, Ben Van Nuffel, gave up two. And Hugo Blondel, always so effective with runners in scoring position, sent Hernandez home before a sacrifice fly. Rouen knows the importance of quickly getting back into the game.

Everything would accelerate in the 4th inning. Hoboken scored thanks to a succession of infield hits and an error by the Huskies’ defense. Then they added two more in the 5th, after a 5th walk given up by Van Steensel and opportunistic hits by Ballardini and Lewis. 5-2, you could feel a hint of worry creeping into the Rouennais’ spines. Javier Hernandez started the inning with a double, then Bastien Dagneau let his bat do the talking. It was 5-4. After a walk to Blondel, Joris Bert hit a double to left-center field, a hesitation from Hendricks who fumbled the ball allowed Blondel to round the bases and tie the game. 5-5, that’s where it stayed.

Boris Marche called on Esteban Prioul, who would dominate the Pioneers’ lineup with great authority for 4 innings, with just a tiny scare in the 8th, quickly compensated by a double play. When we talk about players who have taken their game to the next level, we must also mention the left-hander from Rouen, who is truly stepping up this season.

We arrive at this fateful 9th inning. Blondel, again, hits a single. Brainville lays down a bunt along the first-base line, Lewis reacts perfectly and eliminates Blondel at second base. Bert, again (bis…), hits a double that places two runners in scoring position. The Belgians give an intentional walk to the pinch hitter Gabriel Harrison to load the bases. Vissac hits a very solid grounder to first base, Lewis dives and throws a strike to home for the second out. Gleeson steps up to the plate. The count is full, the rest is history.

The Huskies now know what they have to do: win the French championship title to secure their spot in next year’s Champions Cup with Europe’s best. They must also have a bit of a headache this morning, and it’s not due to celebrating the victory. But what are they going to do with Van Steensel. The Australian with the impressive resume was very mediocre yesterday, completely lacking control. He throws hard, yes, but all over the place. It will be a real problem for the Rouennais if he doesn’t find the level of play he showed throughout his long career in the minor leagues or in Australia. Making a pure reliever a starter might be the issue.

It was the Marlins who completed the podium, dominating the Barracudas, who were short-handed, for third place. We will remember the home run by Antonac, who came in as a pinch hitter, and we understand that with their two aces, Canelon and Ozanich, hampered by injuries, the task was too complicated for coach Mayeur’s men.

Champions Cup: Nail-biting for Rotterdam

In the Champions Cup, Parma won a title that had eluded them since 1999. It was not without difficulty in the final against Amsterdam (7-6), and it took a former Rouennais and member of the French team, Marc Habeck, to strike out the last Dutch batter with two runners on base. The Italian offense hit no less than 14 hits in the game, including a three-run home run by former Tigers organization player Manuel Timo, but they never managed to contain the Amsterdam batters (10 hits).

It’s not so much towards the final that the eyes turned, but towards the relegation match in the Confederation Cup. Because it was a thunderbolt that we almost witnessed. The Neptunus Rotterdam, 10-time European champion, came within a hair’s breadth of elimination. In a competition very disrupted by the rain, with a calendar that became very compressed, forcing some teams to play two games a day, Rotterdam had already been tricked by Bonn in the pool match, being eliminated on the tiebreaker, despite a victory against San Marino. They suffered in the semifinals the dominance of Brno and Juan Jaime, who played in MLB with the Atlanta Braves. Then in the 8th-place match, the legendary pitcher Diegomar Markwell was pulled after one out having given up 3 runs. Heidenheim led 4-0, Rotterdam took the lead 6-4 before the Germans equalized in the 9th. A grand slam by Van der Meer gave Rotterdam a 4-run lead, which they managed to hold off the Germans’ final assaults.