(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Amsterdam Pirates completes sweep against Neptunus
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates completed a 3-game sweep against league-leader Curaçao Neptunus on Thursday-evening (June 27) by winning 7-1.
On Tuesday-evening, Amsterdam Pirates opened the series with a 10-6 win in a game that ended after eight innings due to the curfew-rule.
On Wednesday, Pirates won 3-1 to hand Neptunus-starter Diegomar Markwell its first loss of the season.
The lefthander is now 10-1.
Tonight, Neptunus-starter Orlando Yntema suffered his first loss and is now 6-1.
In the opener on Tuesday, Amsterdam rallied for four runs in the third inning and led 10-2 halfway the eighth inning.
In this game, Neptunus outhit Amsterdam 14-9, but three Neptunian pitchers also walked nine batters and hit three with a pitch.
Jim Ploeger threw six innings to become the winning pitcher, while Denzel Richardson was 3-for-5 with a double and triple and batted in three runs.
On Wednesday, Amsterdam Pirates opened the score with two runs in the fifth inning.
This time, Pirates collected ten basehits, including nine off of starter Diegomar Markwell.
Winning pitcher Kevin Heijstek struckout eight batters, while Tom Stuifbergen pitched the ninth inning to earn a save.
On Thursday, Pirates scored its first run in the first inning, then rallied for four more in the fourth at bat.
Pirates recorded ten basehits, while Neptunus had only four.
Winning pitcher Jhan Rifaela walked seven batters, but also gave up only two basehits in the 5 1/3 inning he pitched.
The complete recaps of these games are in the making, as well as of other games played in the big league.
With the three wins, Amsterdam Pirates moved closer to Neptunus and is now only game behind.
Neptunus is 30-6, while Pirates is 29-7.
Both teams already have secured their spot in the Play-Offs and will finish in either first or second place.
However, the team that finishes in first place wins the KNBSB Cup and with that will qualify for participation in next years European Champions Cup.
This year, both teams participated in this event.
That's why they met in this 3-game series on midweek-evenings, while the other six teams in the Dutch big league have no games scheduled.
The season will resume on Thursday, July 4.
It marked the first time since 2015 that Neptunus lost three games in a row.
Four years ago, on July 4-7, Hoofddorp Pioniers win twice, then Amsterdam Pirates added a win.
It has been ten years ago that Neptunus lost more than three consecutive games.
Back then, on May 7-16, 2009, the Rotterdam-squad lost five games in a row.
Included in that span was the last time that Neptunus was swept in a 3-game series in the regular season.
On May 7, 9 and 10, it also was Amsterdam Pirates that was the last team that swept Neptunus in a 3-game series.
Hereafter, it was Sparta-Feyenoord that won the next two games to bring to total to five consecutive losses for Neptunus.
(June 27)
Schedule, Standings & Scores
(more later)
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