2023 Belgian Division One: Saturday July 8, Match of The Day

Yesterday, the former Mortsel Stars hosted the Borgerhout Squirrels. A game with a surprising end.

Borgerhout Squirrels  4  –  5  Cantincrode Baseball Stars
So far this season, the former Mortsel Stars is the club that finds itself the hardest hit. First of all, the club was forced to move to another facility, not as efficient as their previous one. But the worst part of the forced move was that the club had to pay for the demolition of their former ballpark, a ridiculous decision. The municipality of Mortsel decided the baseball club had to move to make room for a commercial children’s playground. As the demolition took most of the club savings, it started a crowd funding, but the raised amount came nowhere near the goal. If that was not enough, the Stars lost most of its games so far this season, going 4-21 until yesterday. 

Yesterday, the club clinched a much needed win. For the biggest part of the game, Borgerhout had a slim 1-0, which was extended with three runs in the seventh inning. 
But the venom was in the tail. 

Trailing 4-0, the Stars started their final inning. Matas Sirgedas, who retired the side in the eighth inning, when he took over on the mound, was hit hard in the ninth. Back-to-back singles by Robin Reyns and Mikka Uten, put runners on base before they advanced a base on a passed ball. When Shane Van Elsacker hit a sac fly to center field, Robin Reyns scored the first run for the Stars. But Sirgedas didn’t help his own cause as he committed an error that allowed Joey Lambert to reach base and to put runners on the corners. Mikka Uten scored on Tobias Papanikitas’ single to left field. When Bryan Otto singled to center field, Joey Lambert scored the third run for the Stars and two runners could advance to second and third on a fielders choice. For manager Mertens, this was the sign to replace Sirgedas on the mound. His successor, Nick Vanthillo, couldn’t stop the offense of Mortsel. 
Still trailing by one run, the Stars’ Harold Langezaal was clutch as he singled to center field and drove in the game-tying and game-winning run. So far this season, Langezaal is the best hitter for the Stars with a .289 batting average. 

Stefan Schoonheydt earned the win. He pitched 2.2 innings and allowed only one run on two hits. Matas Sirgedas took the loss. In 1.1 inning, he gave up all five runs (four earned) that Mortsel scored. 

Both Shane Van Elsacker and Tobias Papanikitas were the best hitters for the Cantincrode Baseball Stars. Both batted .500. Van Elsacker went 1 for 2, Papanikitas went 2 for 4. Both drove in one run, Papaknikitas scored one himself. 

If you want to donate to the good cause of the Cantincrode Baseball and Softball Stars, you can still go to their crowdfunding page: https://steunactie.be/actie/afbraak-verhuis-koninklijke-mortsel-stars-base-en-softballclub/-17832

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