Hoboken Pioneers Fall to Montpellier Barracudas

In a close game, Belgian champions, Hoboken Pioneers, stayed at the wrong side of the score, despite the fact that their opponent committed three errors.

Hoboken Pioneers 0 – 2 Montpellier Barracudas

Despite collecting more base hits than their opponent, Hoboken wasn’t able to make a breach in the defensive wall of Montpellier. Therefore, starting pitcher Anderson Vera pitched too well. The five hits he gave up were too much spread out over nine innings.

Only once, in the top of the third inning with two outs, Pioneers had runners in scoring position but they could not cash in as Luis Unda struck out.

On its turn, Montpellier took advantage of the lack of control of starting pitcher Dennis Roland Neal III, who hit two batters with a pitch in the third inning. Add a fielding error by the same pitcher and a sac fly, and the Barracudas were able to take a one-run lead in the bottom of the third.

Despite a nice defensive play in the bottom of the seventh, Montpellier added one more run to their score. With Ismael Pontiac on third, Ben Couvreur hit towards pitcher Bebee Brayden, who tossed the ball towards home plate where Pontiac was tagged out. But Couvreur could advance to second on the play. On Mathis Guirard’s single to right field, Couvreur could score the second run for the Barracudas.

The aforementioned Anderson Vera earned the win after a complete game in which he struck out five. Dennis Roland Neal III took the loss. In three innings, he gave up one run on one hit and struck out two.

Mathis Guirard was the best hitter for the Barracudas as he went 1 for 1 with one RBI.

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