2026 Belgian Division One: Championship Tournament, Day 3, Game 2
The second game of the third day of the Belgian Baseball Championship tournament was similar to the first one. The result hinted at a lopsided game, but the winner had one BIG inning that made the score rather flattering.
Borgerhout Squirrels 1 – 11 Hoboken Pioneers
Until the fifth inning, Hoboken had just a three-run lead but in the fifth their bats really woke up. It all started with Benjamin Goffaux, who drew a walk, stole second and scored form second base on Wesley Janssens through the left side.
Janssens advanced to second on a wild pitch before he scored on Dennis de Quint’s double to center field. Another wild pitch made De Quint advance to third, from where he scored on Lucas Rizzi’s single to third. An error by the catcher allowed Rizzi to go to second base.
Rizzi then stole third base and scored on a throwing error by Borgerhout’s catcher.
After Frank Alejandro Prieto Burgos drew a walk, he advanced to third on Jamie Peeters’ single to right field. Prieto Burgos scored on another wild pitch, on which Jamie Peeters advanced to second. Axl Roef then followed by drawing a walk.
With the bases loaded, Hoboken had batted around when Benjamin Goffaux stepped into the batters box for the second time in the inning. He singled to left field and drove in Jamie Peeters and Axl Roef.
What could Borgerhout do? Not much. Only in the seventh inning, the Squirrels managed to score a run when Cedric Vandesompele scored on a sac fly by Matas Sirgedas.
Not only was Borgerhout outscored 11 – 1, it was also outhit 12 – 4. Despite five errors, only one run that Hoboken scored was unearned.
Kevin Desmedt earned the win. In six innings he allowed two hits, walked two and struck out three. Yann van den Brande took the loss. In four innings, he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk, as he struck out four.
Two Hoboken hitters batted 1,000 of which Benjamin Goffaux went 4 for 4 and Jamie Peeters 3 for 3. Goffaux drove in four runs and scored twice, Peeters drove in one and scored thrice.
WIth this win, Hoboken remains unbeaten this season and will advance to the championship game(s). Borgerhout has to face Brasschaat tomorrow. The winner will advance to the championship game(s) as well.
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