ANTWERP, Belgium–Belgian pitcher Kenny Van den Branden called “time” with 2 outs in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the Belgian Series, the country’s top-tier national championship, to ask his girlfriend to marry him.
His Borgerhout Squirrels were leading 6-2 against the Brasschaat Braves and the bases were empty. He was not hurt nor tired, he simply had a plan. He called his girlfriend of 5 years Magalie and asked the big question: “Will you marry me?”.
The fans in the standings reacted with a standing ovation. As the game resumed, reliever Yannick Gontier got the last out of the game.
Branden, a long-time member of the Belgian National Baseball Team, was one of the best pitchers in the Dutch Hoofdsklasse both in 2015 (8-1, 1.26 earned run average) and in 2016 (9-0, 0.74 ERA) for the leache champions Neptunus Rotterdam. He returned to the Belgian Golden League in 2017.
Belgium is currently 29th in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings Presented by ENEOS.
