OPENING DAY
18 March 2021
The first season of the African Baseball Union finally got underway tonight with the opening regular season game between the Brazzaville Mambas and the Kinshasa Leopards.
As part of the celebrations, the first amateur draft pool was also announced before the game. With every team being obliged to select players from their own country in the first six rounds, there will be keen interest in which of the South African clubs gets to select first as centre fielder Toni Khumalo is one of the highest rated prospects in the pool. Nairobi will be pleased that they will have the opportunity to take closer Samuel Opondo before anyone else gets a chance, while the first pick in the open seventh round will be keenly sought as it will bring the chance to take Aruban pitcher JR Hals, only 18 years old but possibly the most sought after player of all. Uniquely, the draft order will only be set days before the draft itself this year, as it will be based on the clubs' records at the start of the All-Star break. In future years, it will be based on the previous season's record and so will be known long in advance.
With each team having set their 25-man rosters, another 52 baseball cards have been produced for this year's collection, including players who had not been expected to be on the roster but who have made it due to injuries to other players during Spring Training. Experts have also made their final predictions as to what might happen this season, and the performances of the two clubs during pre-season have strengthened in the minds of many the belief that Tripoli will get the better of Khartoum in the Sahara Division, although both are still widely expected to reach the play-offs. Marrakech, holders of the best record in pre-season, are still not widely backed although star pitcher Sofiène Benzakour may still be the best in the league. Lagos and Accra have taken over from Abidjan as the favourites in the Western Division, which may be the closest race of all. In the Southern Conference, Addis Ababa are still widely backed in the Central Division, while Antananarivo are expected to have the best record in the conference but their prospects have been damaged by the injury suffered by Jessy Rabenandrasana in Spring Training. They will be hoping that the projections of a return before the end of April are accurate and that there are no setbacks in his recovery.
As for the opening game itself, Brazzaville had to deal with an injury problem as expected opening day starter Andre Kwizera is unavailable due to an elbow injury, with the club uncertain when he will be fit to pitch. Projected second starter Charles Malonga was instead the man to open the season on the mound while Kinshasa had their ace Adaon Mavinga pitching, perhaps giving the first advantage to the visiting team. With Brazzaville widely expected to struggle this season, Kinshasa went into the game as favourites despite their own expectations being lowered by a poor pre-season. They were given a 62% chance of winning the opening game, compared to Brazzaville's 38%.
At 7pm local time, with rain threatening the proceedings, the action got underway before a near-capacity crowd of 53,453. Charles Malonga threw the first pitch in league history to Kinshasa second baseman René Kabamba, and promptly issued a four-pitch walk to begin the season. He settled quickly after that however, retiring the next three to end the top of the first. Opposite number Adaon Mavinga was even more impressive in the bottom half of the inning, beginning his year with a one-two-three inning. The first hit in league history came with two out in the top of the second, as Kinshasa's Seychelles-born left fielder Tommy Albert drove a double down the left field line, but Malonga was able to get out of the inning without Albert scoring. Brazzaville's first hit also came with two out in the second, as their left fielder Charm Simwanza came up with a triple, and he became the first man to score a run when a wild pitch allowed him to come home and give the Mambas a 1-0 lead after two innings.
After surviving an error from catcher Glen Malika which gave Brazzaville a baserunner in the third, Kinshasa had a chance to get on the scoreboard in the fourth after a lead-off double from first baseman Gédéon Bisungu, who advanced to third on a fly ball and then came home when short stop Kamana Mutamba grounded out for the second out of the inning. Things got even better for the Leopards in the fifth, when the league's historic first home run was hit by third baseman Ibrahim Kalamba, putting Kinshasa ahead 2-1. With rain beginning to fall in the bottom half of the fifth, Brazzaville's South African second baseman Thomas Barnard came to bat with catcher Loris Loemba at second and two out, and he found a gap in the infield for the hit which brought Loemba home to tie the score again. Brazzaville though would have been frustrated that centre fielder Wilfrid Ibara had been thrown out at third following Loemba's own hit, taking away a baserunner and a possible chance to take the lead.
With light rain still falling, a one-out hit for Brazzaville was all that either team could manage in the sixth, and with one out in the top of the seventh the rain got heavier and forced a delay which lasted nearly half an hour. When play resumed, Ibrahim Kalamba was standing at first base for Kinshasa after an infield hit just before the delay. Pitcher Charles Malonga ended that threat by getting Leopards catcher Glen Malika to hit into an inning-ending double play and in the bottom of the seventh, Mambas right fielder Anges Makouangou led off with a double against an apparently tiring Adaon Mavinga. After an intentional walk and another hit from Loris Loemba, Kinshasa were in trouble and with the bases loaded and nobody out, made the first pitching change. Mavinga was replaced by Ethiopian Ephrem Taye, who got the first out on a pop-up behind home plate but then threw a wild pitch which allowed Makouangou to come home with the second Mambas run to score on a wild pitch in the game, giving the home team a 3-2 lead.
Taye got through the rest of the seventh with no further damage, but Brazzaville still took a one-run lead in to the eighth inning. They kept starter Malonga in the game and he got through the eighth impressively with a one-two-three inning, and in the bottom of the eighth a one-out single from DH Geoffrey Kanga and an error from Leopards second baseman Marco Bouesso, who had just come into the game, gave Brazzaville two baserunners and a chance to add to their lead. Coincidentally, Bouesso hails from Brazzaville but plays his baseball across the river in Kinshasa. Pitcher Taye regained his composure and a fly ball followed by a strikeout kept the Leopards in the game, maintaining just a one-run deficit heading to the ninth. That was the cue for Malonga to be replaced by Mambas closer Farnese Kounkou, who would attempt to secure the historic first win. A ground ball and a strikeout retired the first two hitters, leaving it down to short stop Kamana Mutamba to keep the game going, but all he could do was hit a fly ball to centre field, where Wilfrid Ibara made the catch to end the game.
Against many people's expectations it was the Brazzaville Mambas who had the first win by a score of 3-2, but it was an evening of frustration for Kinshasa who had led 2-1 and who allowed two of the Mambas' runs to score as a result of wild pitches. Brazzaville pitcher Malonga was named player of the game, for his eight innings of work in which he allowed two runs on just four hits. In all however, despite the rain delay which interrupted the game, the opening match-up of the inaugural season was a great success, enjoyed by more than 50,000 people, the majority of whom went home happy with a home victory. These two teams now have a day off tomorrow as the other thirty clubs get their campaigns underway, before resuming on Saturday and Sunday to complete their first three-game series.
