Deurne Spartans are Belgian Baseball Champions 2023

In the regular season, it was Hoboken Pioneers - Belgian Champions of 2021 and 2022 - who dominated the Baseball Gold Competition. The Spartans ultimately managed to stay ahead of the Borgerhout Squirrels to qualify for the play-offs as second.

In the Belgian Series, however, the roles were reversed, Pioneers lost games 1 and 2 and found themselves with their backs against the wall. Game 3 was won with flying colors by Pioneers in Hoboken. So that game 4 became make or break on the fields of Deurne.

Game 4 (Sunday, October 15th 2023) was an exciting and grueling pitchers' duel between Cédric Desmedt (Spartans) and American Bebee Braydon (Pioneers). Pioneers ultimately failed to score any runs and Cédric, who had given everything with 163 pitches, won the championship with a shut-out. Brussels resident and Red Hawks pitcher Desmedt: “That is why I came to Spartans this year to become champion. And it all worked out."

For Spartans long-time chairman Luc Van Hove, it is a welcome victory and perhaps the end of an era or the start of a new glorious era: "The Spartans are going to rejuvenate" and the focus will also be more on their own youth.

The Royal Deurne Spartans won Belgian Series game 4 , 3-0 and the series with 3-1 and were thus crowned Belgian Champions Baseball 2023.