Netherlands vs. France
Two of the five players that were added the the Netherlands squad for the European Championship played tonight.
Stijn van der Meer played the entire game as short stop, while Chad Tromp made his debut in an Oranje-uniform and started the game as catcher.
Earlier on Wednesday, the final roster of the Netherlands Kingdom Team was announced for the Championship, which included the addition of five active professional players.
Besides Van der Meer and Tromp, the others are pitcher Shairon Martis, first baseman Curt Smith and outfielder Roger Bernadina.
Article on announcement of EC-roster
Both teams reached base in the first two innings, but were unable to score.
In the top of the first inning, Orange-starter Lars Huijer gave up a 2-out single to Félix Brown, but he stranded.
In the second at bat, the righthander hit Bastien Dagneau with a pitch, then gave up a single to Pierrick Lemestre, who was then forced out.
Huijer, who was the lone pitcher tonight to throw two innings, closed with a strikeout.
Marc-André Habeck started for France.
He gave up an one-out single to Randolph Oduber, but then the French defense turned a double play on a grounder by Yurendell de Caster.
In the next at bat, the Netherlands got into scoring position off of Lucas Serafin.
With one out, Kalian Sams doubled and Stijn van der Meer walked, but they stranded.
In the third inning, Loek van Mil, who normally is a closer, took over the Dutch pitching.
He gave up a 2-out single to René Leveret, but he was caught stealing moments later.
...Randolph Oduber..
...single, double, run, walk...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Netherlands then opened the score in the bottom of the third inning off of new pitcher Antoine Villard.
Nick Urbanus led off with a walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Christopher Garia.
Next batter Randolph Oduber walked with ball-four ending in a wild pitch that enabled Urbanus to score all the way from second base.
Oduber later advanced on a passed ball, but he also was left behind.
France appeared to do something back in the top of the fourth off of new pitcher Berry van Driel.
He gave up a lead-off single to Félix Brown, then hit next hitter Frederic Hanvi with a pitch.
Hereafter, Van Driel was supported with a double play.
That moved Brown to third base, but he stranded there.
In the fifth and sixth inning, both teams were retired in order.
And so, the Netherlands was still leading only 1-0 when the seventh inning began, but France then came alongside off of new pitcher Jim Ploeger.
With two outs, the lefthander gave up a homerun to Ernesto Martinez that made it 1-1.
Moments later, he became the pitcher-of-record when the Orange squad scored three runs to re-take the lead and went on to become the winning pitcher.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Norbert Jongerius took over the French pitching.
Jongerius, who plays in the Dutch big league for Pickles UVV, walked lead-off hitter Stijn van der Meer, then gave up a single to Dudley Leonora, which led to runners on second and third base.
Gilmer Lampe, who was one of the five players that were dropped from the EC-roster, was with the team tonight and entered in this situation as pinch-hitter, but grounded out.
Hereafter, a drive into the outfield by Dwayne Kemp was missed.
It became a sacrifice fly, as Van der Meer scored, but Leonora also was able to score to make it 3-1 in favor of the Netherlands.
Moments later, Kemp also scored himself on a sacrifice fly by Christopher Garia.
This was to be the final out in this inning, as it was halted with only two outs to continue with the eighth inning.
Leading 4-1, Tom de Blok became the new Dutch pitcher in the eighth in a save-situation and retired the side.
As this was to be the final inning of the game, De Blok earned a save.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Kingdom Team added its fifth run.
Randolph Oduber led off with a double and advanced on a grounder by Yurendell de Caster.
Next batter Gianison Boekhoudt was walked intentionally, but Kalian Sams followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in Oduber and make it a 5-1 score.
Both teams collected only five basehits in this game.
Félix Brown hit two for France, while Randolph Oduber and Kalian Sams both hit two for the Netherlands.
The following players played for the Netherlands tonight:
Christopher Garia CF - Randolph Oduber LF - Yurendell de Caster 3B - Gianison Boekhoudt DH-C - Kalian Sams RF - Stijn van der Meer SS - Dudley Leonora 1B - Chad Tromp C-DH (Gilmer Lampe PH-DH) - Nick Urbanus 2B (Dwayne Kemp 2B).
Seven pitchers were used, who are listed beneath.
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Netherlands closes preparations for European Championship with exhibition-win
VLEUTEN (Neth.) -
The Netherlands Kingdom Team closed its preparations for the European Championship on Wednesday-evening (September 7) with a 5-1 victory in an exhibition game against France at the site of Pickles UVV in Vleuten.
The game was ended after eight complete innings.
Exhibition Game as preparation for the European Championship.