SOISSONS - The Saint Quentin team caused a sensation in Group A of the French team competition. On the fifth and second last match day in the pre rounds, Saint Quentin won 3-5 in the away match against the leaders Soissons. Johan Loncelle was the man of the match with a win over Semih Sayginer 40-35 in 16 innings. Sayginer provided a demonstration for the Soissons crowd at the end of the evening.
Robinson Morales signed for the other sensational match against Eddy Merckx. The Colombian launched his attack with two runs of eight in the 13th and 19th inning and won against Merckx 40-22 in 19 innings. For Saint Quentin, it was the best performance of the season with 1.549 on average. Soisson is the reigning champion.
The success means Saint Quentin is already sure of qualification for the French championship final with four teams from the two groups. The Soissons and Kozoom teams still face each other in the final round for the second qualification in Group A. Morangis' team is already relegated from the top division with zero points. Kozoom won 6-2 over Morangis on the fifth day of play.
For Saint Quentin, Nathan Duriez played a draw against Mikael Devogelaere after gemiosting 5 match balls: 40-40 in 40. Pierre Soumagne was the only winner for Soissons against Kevin Perrotin: 40-38 in 27.
Kozoom beat Morangis 6-2. The results:
Jean Reverchon-Dick Jaspers 27-40 in 27
Thomas le Coat-Nikos Polychronopoulos 31-40 in 30
Fabrice Puigvert-Marc Boigneres 26-40 in 33
Geoffroy Barras-Francis Connesson 40-14 in 42.
Kozoom averaged 1.015, Morangis averaged 0.939.
Standings in Group A:
1 Saint-Quentin 8-23-1,199
2 Soissons 6-27-1,331
3 Kozoom 6-26-1,143
4 Morangis 0-4-0,843
The sixth and final round is on May 4 and 5: Kozoom-Soissons and Saint-Quentin-Morangis.
Robinson Morales, winner in the match with Eddy Merckx
The Morangis and Kozoom teams