2026 Belgian Divison One: Match of The Day (July 4)

Only one game today, so, automatically the match of the game. A game between two teams in the cellar of the standings: Brussels Kangaroos and Merchtem Cats.

Brussels Kangaroos 12 – 13 Merchtem Cats

The proverb “It ain’t over ’till it’s over” can be applied to this game. What appeared to become a walk in the park for the Brussels Kangaroos ended in a close game.

The Cats took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on a throwing error by Brussels’ shortstop. After the Kangaroos tied the game in the top of the second, the Cats regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Yens Rothier tripled to left center to drive in Lennart Schats.

In the third, fourth, and fifth inning, Brussels appeared to walk away when the team scored six runs. But that 7-2 lead was erased by Merchtem in the bottom of the fifth inning when they scored eight runs.

Every time the Kangaroos managed to tie the game, the Cats bounced back and regained the lead. In the eighth inning, after the Cats had taken the lead again on a wild pitch, Kenzo Ciprieti took the mound as he inherited two runners with one out. Ciprieti walked the first batter he faced but then retired the next two to get out of the jam.

The Kangaroos sent the bottom of their batting order to the batter’s box but to no avail. Only Sylvain de Meulder drew a walk but Yens Rothier retired the other three batters for the win. In 1.1 innings, Rothier allowed one hit and a walk and struck out two. Shu Chang took the loss as he allowed the the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. In 0.2 innings, he walked two.

Both Lennart Schats and Kevan Braziel went 2 for 4 and two RBI. Only Schats scored one run more (2) than Braziel.

It was a game that had everything you’d like to see in a game: Lots of runs scored, hits, errors, you name it. Even though it was an entertaining game, it wasn’t a qualitatively good game. Both teams committed two errors and the pitching struggled. The pitching of the Kangaroos gave up fourteen walks, the Cats six. The pitchers of the Cats hit five batters with a pitch, the Kangaroos pitching hit six batters.

With nine hits more than Merchtem, it must have been a bitter loss for Brussels as they collected sixteen hits and still did not manage to clinch the win.

Standings:

This blog post is brought to you by