The countdown has begun. As the 2026 season approaches, Division 1 is resuming its rights… and with it, our traditional series of club presentations. Objective: to dive into the heart of the forces present, decipher the ambitions and take the pulse of a more open championship than ever.
At the top, Rouen Baseball 76 is putting its title back into play. But behind the champion, the pack is launched: each team is sharpening its weapons, between certainties, reinforcements and a thirst for revenge.
From the promoted Parisian team, Paris Université Club, ready to disrupt the hierarchy, to the title holder, the season will be told day by day. A progressive immersion, at the rate of one club per day, to not miss any of the dynamics at work.
Top start of a tour that promises to be as dense as it is uncertain.
With a very young team, the PUC has managed to climb back from D2 in two seasons. The Parisian club is approaching the 2025 exercise with the goal of maintaining, but determined to fight until the end.
It would have been a shame if D1, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, did not have its most prestigious club, the one with 22 French championship titles, the PUC, in the list of participating teams. The PUC had left D1 in 2023, after a black year with 2 small victories (both against Rouen, which is not common) and 22 defeats. It was then decided to make a clean slate, or almost, of the past to tackle D2. The semi-finals were narrowly missed in 2024, they were reached in 2025, with a success against Nice, not without having lost the 1st match, the kind of remontada that energizes a club, and a sweep against Meyzieu.
Here is the PUC back in its natural place, D1, with an armada of young talents aged 18, whose debuts are expected at the best French level, with a certain curiosity. We think of Clyde Rolland-Diamond, who shut out Nice and Meyzieu in the decisive playoff matches. We also think of Lucas Le Guillou, whose ERA of 0.93 in 2024 made many eyes wide. Even if it was more complicated in 2025 (4.52), he was selected for the French U18 team, after having attended the U15 ranks, and distinguished himself by shutting out Austria. He has just participated in the MLB Europe Development Camp, in the company of another PUC player, Julian Dussart, who is asserting himself as one of the best hitters on his team. Dussart? That sounds familiar. Yes, of course, Jérôme, the father, whose first match was played in the last century, in 1999, under the colors of the PUC and who, nearly 1200 at-bats later, continues to do what he has always done, hit opposing pitchers (.429 and .357 in the last two seasons).
At the helm, we find, as for the past six years, the Italian Pietro Briggi, a former player of Godo and Vérone, who, in excellent French, is delighted to see the roadmap initiated in 2023 at the time of the descent, perfectly respected. « We chose to build around a core of players trained at the club, to invest in them, to give them playing time and to progress. The results have followed, as we can also see in the French teams and in the young categories ».
He knows that the task will not be easy. The transition from D2 to D1 is not simple, as evidenced by the average of promoted teams over the last 22 championships: .320. « We remain humble and aim for maintenance », explains the coach. « We know where we come from, our opponents have very solid teams, we must be realistic. But we play to win: everything is possible, we are capable of seizing all opportunities. If we start the season well, if we manage to chain good matches, nothing will stop us. It’s very positive in any case to face big teams, it will allow us to progress ». The calendar has not spoiled the PUC, which starts with a perilous trip to Rouen, the Huskies presenting a record of 72 wins and 4 losses against promoted teams. « It’s better to face them at the start of the season, they may not be completely ready », the coach smiles. He will advocate, in any case, and regardless of the opponent, an offensive and aggressive strategy: « we must put the ball in play. From there, anything can happen… ». It’s not to an Italian, who has followed with passion the astonishing journey of his national team at the WBSC, that we will learn that anyone can beat anyone.
The young people will therefore be the heart of the Parisian team, but the PUC has also gone to find three foreign reinforcements, who will be asked to set an example on the field, but also in the youth sections. The idea is to build in continuity, to make the club a real family where everyone knows each other. Pietro has gone through the agency of an Italian compatriot to find his rare pearls, after countless email exchanges, statistics, and videos. The shortstop Bret Bowers, who has solid numbers in NA1A, the Venezuelan catcher Lorenzo Gonzales, who comes from the same background, and the Dominican pitcher Osiris German (3.25 ERA in the minor leagues, within the Twins organization) will form a quality trio, able to make life difficult for opponents.
F.C.
