(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (June 15), the first games will be played in the first round of the Top-4 Pool in the Dutch big league.
Also scheduled are the first games in the second round of the Bottom-5 Pool, which opened a week ago.
In the upcoming series, the champions of the previous two seasons will meet.
HCAW, which won the title last year, plays against Amsterdam Pirates, which was the Dutch champion in 2021.
Last Friday, the two teams also met each other in the Semi-Final of the European Champions Cup-tournament, which was held in Bussum and Amsterdam.
Pirates then took an early 3-0 lead on two homeruns, but HCAW came back and went on to win 4-3 in ten innings on a basesloaded, walk-off hit by pitch to reach the Final.
On Saturday, HCAW won the Champions Cup for the first time in club-history by winning 11-4 against Parma Angels from Italy.
Pirates finished in third place by winning 12-6 against Bonn Capitals from Germany.
HCAW became the sixth Dutch club to win the Champions Cup (which is the former European Cup-I).
Earlier, Haarlem Nicols, ADO, Neptunus, Kinheim and Amsterdam Pirates captured the Cup.
In the first round of the Bottom-5 Pool, both Twins Oosterhout and UVV opened with a loss, but then won their next two games in the weekend against Quick Amersfoort and Hoofddorp Pioniers, respectively.
A week earlier, Twins missed qualification for the Top-4 Pool by losing its final series of the first half against RCH-Pinguïns (2-1).
With that, the two teams finished in a tie, but RCH-Pinguïns advanced to the Top-4 based on the head-to-head results.
In the first round of the Top-4 Pool, RCH-Pinguïns opens against Curaçao Neptunus, which finished in first place in the first half of the season.
Although not all rotations are set yet for the upcoming series, all teams have announced their (probable) starter for the opener on Thursday-evening.
The lone exception is RCH-Pinguïns, which has not yet decided who will be the starter on Thursday.
That has to do with the fact whether or not righthander Juan Carlos Sulbaran will be available.
In March, Sulbaran was signed by Lexington Counter Clocks, which plays in an Independent League, which was confirmed again in April.
However, up to now, Sulbaran still was in the Netherlands, pitching for the Heemstede-team.
In case, Sulbaran leaves for the USA before the weekend, he could be the starter on Thursday-evening.
Twins Oosterhout and Hoofddorp Pioniers have not yet decided who will be their starters coming weekend.
That depends on who is needed in Thursday's openers.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, June 15.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
(June 15)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | AMSTERDAM PIRATES (0-0) (16-7-1) | vs. |
HCAW (0-0) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 15 | LHP Dylan Farley (0-0) | 1 | 14 | RHP Gio de Graauw (0-0) | Th. June 15, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (2-2) | 2 | 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (3-0) | Sa. June 17, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (3-0) | 3 | 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (6-0) | Su. June 18, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| (1) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (2) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) (20-3-1) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (0-0) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (4-0) | 1 | | to be decided | Th. June 15, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (4-0) | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. June 17, 3:00 PM, Heemstede (4) |
| 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (7-1) | 3 | | to be decided | Su. June 18, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| (3) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (4) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | TWINS OOSTERHOUT (2-1) (12-11-1) | vs. |
HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (1-2) (6-17-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Twins | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 14 | RHP Filip Čapka (2-3) | 1 | 18 | RHP Sem Lauf (2-4) | Th. June 15, 7:30 PM, Oosterhout (5) |
| | to be decided | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. June 17, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (6) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. June 18, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (5) |
| (5) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout; (6) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | UVV (2-1) (3-19-2) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (0-0) (10-14) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers UVV | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 27 | RHP Sam van der Meer (0-5) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (4-2) | Th. June 15, 7:30 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (3-3) | 2 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (2-5) | Sa. June 17, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (8) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (3-1) | Su. June 18, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| (7) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten; (8) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
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