Angels win 9th LFBBS title
The Namur Angels host the 18th annual LFBBS Championship this past weekend. The event was created in 1990 to promote baseball in the Southern part of the country, and it offers the possibility for smaller clubs to face the top LFBBS teams they wouldn't face otherwise, and for top teams to establish their supremacy in the South. From 1993 to 1998, Namur dominated LFBBS baseball, winning all the trophies before going through a 6-year skid. In 2005 and 2006 though, Namur rebounded and won back to back titles before falling in the Finals in 2007. This year, Namur faced the Seraing Brown Boys (current leader in the Promo 2BB and the winners of the first ever LFBBS Cup in 1990). Rémi Lambeau shut them down with a one-hitter, while the Angels' offense scored 11 runs to secure a spot in the championship game. In the Final, Namur sent Erik Hufnagel to the mound to face Brussels Kangaroos' ace Mike Joannides. Hufnagel pitched a great game, blanking the Kangaroos through 8 innings. Young hurler Louis Dellieu tossed a perfect 9th. Joannides, on the other hand of that pitchers' duel, pitched extremely well but couldn't avoid some clutch hits from the Namur offense. Harold Gérard came on in relief for Brussels and did not allow a run in 2 innings. Namur brought the LFBBS trophy home for the 9th time taking it back from the Kangaroos who have won it 4 times. With both clubs running some of the top youth programs in the country, Brussels-Namur finals might be the trend for many years to come. Congratulations to both teams for the good show thay offered all weekend.
Angels Swept by Royal Greys
The Namur Angels fell from first place at the hands of the defending Belgian Champion Merksem Royal Greys. The Angel offense which had been so electric in rushing to a 4-0 record to kick off the championship qualifying round was silent. In Namur on Saturday, the Greys benefitted from a pair of home runs and solid starting pitching from Tennessean Daniel Howard to win 5-0; while on Sunday their offense carried the day in a 13-3 drubbing with an assist from Namur pitching which gave up 11 free passes.
Saturday’s game in Namur shaped up as a pitching duel between Howard and his compatriot Caleb Calarco. Howard benefitted from an efficient use of his pitches to keep his pitch count low, while Calarco managed to settle down after walking three batters in the first inning. Calarco picked off a runner and struck a batter out to leave the bases loaded in the first inning and largely managed to keep the Greys in check until the sixth inning when he hit the leadoff batter and then was victimized by the extremely short right field fence down the line at Namur when Kim Wybo poked a lazy fly near the foul pole for a two run homer. Calarco was replaced by Eric Hufnagel in the eighth inning, and after making quick work of the Greys in his first inning he encountered trouble in the 9th, yielding a single to center field and a double that just hopped over third base and down the line. Bryon Bell followed with a three run home run to right-center to cap the scoring at 5-0.
Namur struggled to get its offense in gear against Howard, but threatened several times nonetheless. In the second Howard reached back to get a strikeout and strand a pair of Angels in scoring position, while the same situation repeated itself in the fourth, ending with another K. In the sixth inning the Angels put two runners on with none out and had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but a double play grounder killed the momentum, and Howard yet again recorded a key strikeout to leave an Angel on third. Howard finished with 10 strikeouts, many at crucial junctures and managed to pitch into three momentum crushing double plays.
Namur finished with only three hits on the day, recorded by Ronny Heymans, Nicolas Migeot, and Morgan Brown. Jerome Sana worked a pair of walks.
On Sunday, Namur fell behind early and could never answer the bell as Merksem continued to add to their lead over the course of the afternoon. For the second day in a row Namur pitching yielded three walks in the first inning, though this time Merksem capitalized by adding on three singles and racing to a 3-0 lead. It could have been worse had the inning not ended with a double play by Namur. With the bases loaded and Merksem threatening to blow the game open, a potential sacrifice fly was lifted to Philip Van Woensel in center who connected with Calarco, now playing first base, in the relay spot and then Heymans behind the plate to slap the tag on the Greys’ runner trying to score and thus end the inning and strand several more runners. Namur managed a small response in the top of the second as Heymans led off with a walk and moved around on a couple ground-outs before scoring on a single by Xavier Pierreux. But the Greys continued to add to their lead in the second after two outs were recorded courtesy of two more walks, two doubles, and a home run from Gert Rosiers before the Angels finally got the third out. Again Namur tried to recover by plating two in the third as Calarco came home on a Juny Gressman double and Heymans delivered again with an RBI single. Yet, for the third inning in a row the Greys hung a 3 on the scoreboard in the bottom half. The bottom of the order led off with a single and then consecutive hit batters flipped the order and another walk forced in a run. A fielder’s choice ground-out eliminated a runner at the plate, and a hotly debated call at first negated the 5-2-3 double play. Another RBI walk was followed by a sacrifice fly and a 9-3 Merksem lead after three. Namur would scarcely threaten the rest of the way, while Merksem was kept off the board until plating two each in the sixth and seventh innings.
Namur managed to double their hit output from Saturday but still only recorded six hits, collected by Calarco, Brown, Gressman, Heymans, Pierreux, and Cedric Nauts. Merksem countered with 14 hits, including six for extra bases to accompany the 9 walks and two hit batsmen handed out by the Angels.
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Hufnagel Debuts with a No-Hitter, Bats Support with 14 run first inning
After the longest layoff of the season, the Namur Angels returned to action Tuesday night at Borgerhout facing a Squirrels team that they split with in the first portion of the season. The outcome was never in doubt as the first seven Angels reached base and scored en route to an inning that saw the entire line-up bat twice. Eric Hufnagel then took care of the rest as he tossed a no-hitter over the seven inning game. He struck out 13, walked six, and hit a batter in his Belgian debut, a 21-1 victory.
In the top of the first, table-setter Philip Van Woensel worked a walk and Nicolas Migeot followed with a hit, a passed ball moved the runners over and a single from Morgan Brown started the scoring. After a Juny Gressman single to load the bases, Jerome Sana cleared them by shooting a double up the right-center field gap. A walk to Ronny Heymans and a Ludovic Geuquet single loaded the bases again before Borgerhout finally recorded an out, Cedric Nauts singled in one run and Van Woensel repeated this one batter latter, while Brown followed suit to right field to plate two more. Gressman singled in Migeot, Sana walked, and Heymans delivered a sacrifice fly. Geuquet, Xavier Pierreux, and Nauts all drew walks to load the bases with two outs before the Squirrels finally escaped.
Hufnagel kept the momentum on Namur’s side by retiring the first eight batters, six via the strikeout. He struck out the side in the second and fifth innings and only surrended a run in the fifth when he hit a batter and walked the next three before fanning the 2,3, and 4 hitters with the bases loaded.
Namur added three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one in the seventh. Van Woensel scored four times with two hits and two walks, Migeot collected three hits and scored three times. Brown collected three hits, three runs, and four RBIs including a solo home run in the 7th to cap the Namur scoring. Gressman had a pair of hits, Sana had three rbis and scored three times, and Heymans had a perfect three for three day with a walk and a sacrifice fly.
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Angels get armed for the play-offs – add JWU's Hufnagel
Namur has signed Johnson and Wales University's (RI) starting pitcher Erik Hufnagel.
Erik, who just majored in nutrition, enjoyed a successful college career.
In 2007, he posted a 1.93 ERA along with 11,8 strikeouts per 9 innings, good for 3rd in the nation.
This Spring, the Wildcats' ace fanned 85 in 72,2 innings pitched, recording 7 wins for only one loss.
Erik has excellent work ethic and has already displayed some natural abilities working with kids. Just like Morgan Brown and Caleb Calarco, who have done an tremendous job so far, he will be involved in the coaching of the young Angels prospects.
Angels Open Second Half Strong; Sweep Braves
The Namur Angels made up for a sluggish finish in the first stage of the Belgian First Division Championship season by slugging their way to a two victory weekend to start the six team playoff for the title at the top of the pack.
After achieving the qualifying standard several weeks ago, the Angels bats had gone into hiding, however the first inning of a rainy day in Brasschaat changed that in a hurry. Before the third out was recorded the Angels had plated 10 runs and sent 15 batters to the plate. Unsurprisingly the Angels offensive rejuvenation came at the same time as the return of normal lead-off man Philip Van Woensel to the line-up. Van Woensel battled through an 8 pitch at-bat before lining a single to center. Caleb Calarco followed with a sacrifice bunt that eluded the defenders on the wet turf and went for a hit. With two on and none out in the first the Angels played for a run and Morgan Brown dropped down a sacrifice bunt also to move the runners up a base each. Juny Gressman knocked in one with a single and Jerome Sana duplicated the feat one batter later. After a fly-out, Nicolas Migeot continued the circle of the bases by delivering Gressman with a single and Sana came around on Xavier Pierreux’s RBI single. Cedric Nauts loaded the bases on another hit and Van Woensel worked the first of his four walks on the day to force home another. A Calarco double and Brown single drove three more Angels home and the Braves to the bullpen. The new pitcher was greeted by a double from Gressman that scored Calarco and Brown to complete the first inning explosion.
Calarco took to the mound and kept the Braves from regaining any momentum surrendering only two runs over five innings before being removed for Nauts. The Angels bats kept rolling in the third inning with back to back doubles by Calarco and Brown highlighting a two run inning. Five more runs came across in the fourth featuring Van Woensel with another walk, Calarco with another double, and Brown and Sana with two more RBIs each. The fifth inning saw Van Woensel work his third walk, Calarco collect another hit, and Brown and Sana combine for their 10th total RBIs. Things got even uglier in the sixth with several Namur runs scoring on bases loaded walks.
Every Namur starter except for one got a hit in the first inning and most managed to keep it up. Van Woensel’s return atop the line-up included four walks, a hit, and five runs scored. Calarco delivered right behind him with five hits, six runs, and four RBIs. Brown tallied four hits, a sacrifice, four runs, and five RBIs. Gressman had three hits, three runs, and three RBIs. Sana collected four hits and six RBIs. Migeot had a pair of hits, Pierreux had three, and Nauts two from the bottom of the order.
Sunday in Namur the offensive fireworks were muted due to excellent starting pitching from both sides. Rickey Thomas of Brasschaat spun a no-hitter through five innings, while Namur’s Adrien Stockart kept the Angels close throughout with his complete game six hitter. Thomas’ shutout and no-hit bids went by the boards together in the sixth as Namur clawed back even from a three run deficit. Calarco led-off with a walk and stole second base. Brown cracked the no-hitter and the scoreboard by lining a hit to the right-center gap. After an error allowed Gressman to reach, Sana sacrificed the runners over and Migeot capitalized with a single to plate both runners and tie the score. The Angels took the lead and stretched it out in the eighth inning. Sana took a glancing pitch off the helmet and Migeot’s sacrifice bunt was thrown away to put runners on second and third with no out. After a pitching change Sana was erased at the plate after trying to score on a wild pitch. A subsequent passed ball brought home Migeot with the eventual winning run. The wildness continued from the bullpen as six Angels walked consecutively, followed by a hit to produce six runs and the final 9-3 margin. Namur collected only four hits, but took advantage of an amazing 12 walks, a hit batter, and three errors.
Angels Drop Two to the Braves
It was a beautiful weekend for baseball, but the results on the field weren’t pretty for Namur. At Brasschaat on Saturday, the Braves jumped on top with their first seven batters coming around the score en route to an 11-1 victory for the home team. On Sunday at Namur the game had a much different flavor as it was a one run ballgame until Brasschaat again got its bats going to tack on three runs in the eighth to put away a 5-1 victory.
On Saturday Namur was led by Ronny Heymans two hits; and while the Angels seemed to put balls in play all day long, most were right at the Braves. On Sunday, Namur was kept in the game with a sparkling pitching performance again from Caleb Calarco, yet he became the tough luck loser when a bobbled ball in the outfield allowed Kelvin Morel of the Braves to score the eventual winning run.
Calarco was matched on the mound by Chris Geschwendler of the Braves. Geschwendler managed 11 strikeouts and escaped several jams with only the one run surrendered. Namur’s offense sputtered the entire weekend and couldn’t seem to string hits together with any consistency. The Angels will seek to rebound from a tough weekend with several make-up games on the horizon against the Merchtem Cats, Mortsel Stars, and Merksem Royal Greys, all part of weekend series that were postponed due to poor weather and field conditions earlier in the season. After these games are completed the top six teams of the First Division will begin the second phase of the season culminating in the Belgian Championship.
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Namur Advances to Second Round, But Drops Close Game to Merchtem
Thanks to the results in other league matches over the weekend, the Namur Angels have clinched a spot in the top 6 of the Belgian First Division and thus the right to contest the Belgian Championship over the remainder of the season. The Angels didn’t qualify in the manner that they would have wished as they dropped a game to the Merchtem Cats that would have clinched a spot, instead they needed to wait to hear the results of the Merksem vs. Borgerhout game.
After a heavy downpour forced the cancellation of the Saturday edition of the series in Namur, the two sides met again on Sunday at the brand new field in Merchtem under much improved weather conditions. It would not be Namur’s day however.
Namur jumped on top for their only run of the day in the first inning. Leadoff man Caleb Calarco was drilled in the back and Philip Van Woensel sacrificed him to second base before Morgan Brown banged the first offering to left field to drive in Calarco, After a groundout Nicolas Migeot roped a single to left that was hit so hard that Brown was held at third and Migeot was cut down at second trying to move up on the Merchtem relay throw to the plate.
Merchtem answered right back in the bottom of the first. With one out Geert Clymans worked a walk and moved to third on a hit by Nicholas Pardickes before coming home on a groundout to second base. Namur would come right back and get its first two runners on base in the second with Ronny Heymans working a walk and Ludovic Geuquet knocking a single to left. Unfortunately the Angels couldn’t execute a sacrifice to move the runners along and the inning ultimately stalled.
In the bottom of the third, Merchtem took advantage of several defensive miscues from the Namur defense. Two routine double-play grounders to the right side were booted and no outs recorded as Merchtem pushed across the eventual winning run.
In the fifth Namur threatened again with Adrien Stockart leading off with a single and moving to third two outs later on a single to center from Brown. In the inning all three Namur outs were recorded by the Merchtem center fielder as Namur was victimized all day by the “at-‘em” ball as line-drives routinely found their way to the Cats’ gloves.
The bottom of the inning gave Merchtem the final margin as another walk proved the catalyst as the Cats managed to score sandwiched between several strikeouts.
In the eighth the Angels came back once again to apply pressure following a one out single from Brown followed by another by Juny Gressman. After a fielder’s choice erased Gressman, Migeot stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but another chance went by the boards with a groundout to end the inning. The ninth inning saw a pair of Angels on base as well, but a high drive from Van Woensel to center was hauled in to end the game.
The Angels out hit the Cats, 8 to 6, but the Cats were opportunistic and took advantage of several Namur fielding errors and walks and managed to capitalize.
Namur was led by Brown with three hits, while Pardickes collected half of Merchtem’s total.
Namur upsets Pioneers in second game of double-header
Namur was facing the undefeated Pioneers this past week-end.
Saturday, under one of the first sunny days of the season, the 17 year old Louis Dellieu was startting on the mound for the Angels against Brett Diamond, the returning American hurler from the Pioneers.
Diamond pitched 9 innings, giving up 2 runs on 11 hits and a walk while recording 8 strike-outs.
On the other hand, Namur failed to avoid the big inning for the first tme this season. In the 3rd, a hit bastman, 2 walk and 2 errors helped Hoboken to plate 5 runs on only 2 hits.
In the 5th, namur allowed one more run before seeing the game going out of their reach with a 4-run sixth inning.
Namur, though, kept on battling, scoring one run in the 5th and 7th innings, avoiding the mercy-rule.
Additional runs from the pioneers on Angels reliever Cédric nauts in the 8th and 9th sealed the score to 2-12.
The Geuquet brothers both had 3 hits while Gressman and Migeot each had 2.
Sunday however, it was a totally different story.
Calarco was back on the mound after missing his turn the week before with elbow tightness.
He was facing the best pitcher from 2007, TJ Antonacci.
Dennis Ribbens, who led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk, was brought in on a single by Brett Diamond to give the Pioneers an early lead.
In the top of the fourth though, Ludovic Geuquet and Philip Van Woensel both reached on errors. Clean-up hitter Juny Gressman then plated Geuquet on a hit to center while Van Woensel was thrown out at third on a perfect throw from centerfielder DeLannoy.
With 2 outs, the red hot Migeot crushed a double to left to bring Gressman home and give Namur his first lead of the day.
In the bottom frame of the inning though, De Quint belted a homerun in left field to tie the game at 2.
Namur however was playing better than his opponent on Sunday.
Migeot was leading off the 6th inning with a single. Xavier Pierreux then reached on an error and Adrien Geuquet moved both runners over on a ground out.
With 2 outs, Adrien Stokart lifted a pitch over the 3rd baseman’s head, bringing in Migeot with the go-ahead run (2-3).
That run turned out to be huge as Migeot, who came in relief of Calarco in the 6th inning, blanked the Pioneers to record his 2nd win in division 1.
A nice win before facing Merchtem and Brasschaat to close the first round of the competition.
Angels drop heartbreaker to the Squirrels
Thursday, Namur was hosting the Squirrels for the make-up game of what should have been their home opener.
The young Adrien Stokart was facing his twenty year older counterpart, Roger De Saedeleer.
Again, Stokart was doing a tremendous job, only giving up 2 hits and 2 walks through 6 innings.
De Saedeleer was also on top of his game but allowed Namur to take a 2-0 lead in the 5th inning on a walk and a hit batter to Adrien Geuquet and Cédric Nauts, followed by 2 consecutive hits to right field by Calarco and Van Woensel.
In the 6th, Namur was striking again. With one out, Migeot reached on a single to center. Adrien Geuquet the reached base on a drag bunt. After an infield fly by Nauts, Calarco got his third hit of the game to move Migeot 90 feet from the plate. The throw from the right fielder sailed into the backstop allowing the 6’6 outfieder to cross the plate easily.
In the top of the 7th inning though, De Saedeleer helped himself with a double to left. With 2 outs, the left-handed batter Dave Van den Bosch was taking advantage of the first mistake from Stokart to belt one over the short right field fence and get his team right back into the game (3-2)
In the bottom part of the 7th, Van den Bosch was taking over for De Saedeleer while the veteran player was moved to centerfield.
In the 8th inning, Ludowicka reached base with one out on a single to centerfield. With 2 outs again, De Saedeleer punished the second mistake of Stokart by going deep, once again in right field (3-4).
The Angels were not giving up, bringing runners in scoring position in the 8th and 9th innings but the Squirrels held on to their lead to record their 3rd win of the season.
Angels Take Two From Kangaroos
The Namur Angels swept a weekend series from the Brussels Kangaroos, winning 19-6 on Saturday, before coming from behind to win 7-6 on Sunday. Both games were played under beautiful, bright sunshine and featured excellent complete game efforts from Namur’s starting pitchers, Adrien Stockart and Nicolas Migeot.
In game one on Saturday in Brussels Namur jumped on the board first courtesy of a two run home run by Cedric Nauts in the top of the second inning. Brussels would answer with an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the inning, but wouldn’t cross the plate again until the sixth inning.
Namur however kept their offensive momentum going and got everyone involved. In the third inning with one out the Angels had five consecutive hitters reach and four came around to score. A single run crossed the plate in the 5th before the Angels again played longball to plate two more runs as Morgan Brown drilled a home run to center field. The sixth inning saw Namur put the game away with a 10 run outburst highlighted by Ludovic Geuquet’s three-run homer to left field as 15 Angels batted and Migeot hammered out two doubles in the inning.
Brussels came back with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, but it was too little too late.
Namur peppered out 17 hits led by Ludovic Geuquet, Brown, and Xavier Pierreux with three each. Every Angel starter had at least one hit.
Game two featured a much different storyline but ultimately the same result.
Brussels jumped on top with two runs in the top of the first inning. Namur came back swinging in their first turn at the plate as Philip Van Woensel cracked a one out double and moved to third on a hit by Morgan Brown before coming in to score on a fielder’s choice groundout by Juny Gressman. The Angels drew even in the bottom of the second as Migeot helped his own cause by leading off with a walk and advancing around the bases before coming home on a Caleb Calarco single.
Namur took their first lead of the day in the bottom half of the third inning when Brown clubbed his second home run in as many days. The lead was short-lived however as the Kangaroos stormed back with two more runs to take a 4-3 lead through the fourth inning. Single Kangaroo runs in the 5th and 7th innings put the visitors up by three. In the bottom of the 7th the Angels got one back with two out. Calarco and then Van Woensel worked walks before Brown knocked Calarco home with a single. Migeot retired his final seven batters and left it up to the Namur bats to come up with the difference.
The bottom of the 9th featured plenty of drama and crafty baseball. Adrien Geuquet lead off with a drag bunt single and moved along with another hit by Calarco. After a wild pitch the runners moved up and a strikeout brought Brown to the plate with the tying runs in scoring position and one out. Brussels elected to intentionally walk Brown to load the bases. A second wild pitch scooted away from the catcher and brought home Geuquet as Brown and Calarco moved up 90 feet. Brussels then issued the remainder of a walk to Juny Gressman to again load the bases for Ronny Heymans. Heymans came through by drilling a ball to the gap in left-center field but was nearly robbed on an outstanding running effort by Brussels left fielder Manu Roggen. The ball knicked off his glove and found the turf however and Calarco came home from third with the tying run and as the Brussels infield tried to get outs with Gressman and Heymans caught between bases Brown managed to sneak home with the winning run.
Migeot matched Stockart with a complete game effort on the mound to lead the Angels. Offensively Namur collected 12 hits, led by Calarco and Brown with three each.
On Thursday Namur entertains Mortsel in a make-up of a previously postponed match, the next weekend series features the Angels against the currently first-place Hoboken Pioneers.
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