Tonight, the Opening Series between RCH-Pinguïns and UVV could finally be completed with this third game between the two teams.
UVV appeared to have a comfortable 6-1 lead halfway the fifth inning, but RCH-Pinguïns came back and narrowed the deficit to 6-5.
UVV then added two insurance runs in the eighth, before the game was halted as the 10:30 curfew-time had been reached.
...Stefan Kuipers...
...4 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBI's,...
...5 times on base,...
...outfield-assist, DP...
(© Photo: Jan Kruijdenberg) |
UVV got two runners in scoring position in the top of the first inning off of starter Mike van den Berg.
Malcolm Marlin led off with a single, stole second base and moved on an one-out single by Quin Cotton, who then also stole second base.
Van den Berg struckout the next two batters.
UVV then opened the score in the second inning.
Stefan Kuipers and Lucas Bekker led off with singles, which led to runners on first and third base.
Kuipers scored when next batter Etienne van Tielraden grounded into a double play.
RCH-Pinguïns also got into scoring position in its first at bat off of starter Aaron Isenia.
With one out, Jeldwin Orman walked and stole second base.
Like Van den Berg in the first inning, Isenia then followed with two strikeouts.
UVV's 1-0 lead was shortlived, as RCH came alongside in the bottom of the second.
Denzel Brooks led off with a single, stole second base, reached third base on a wild pitch, then scored when next batter Thomas Kwakernaak also singled.
After the latter had stolen second base, two grounders followed, then Daan Groenewoud walked.
Hereafter, Raul Jacobs singled up the middle, deep behind second base.
Kwakernaak tried to score, but he was eliminated at the plate, as second baseman Lucas Bekker made a nice play stopping the ball, then got it in time to catcher Etienne van Tielraden.
And that ended the at bat.
With two outs in the top of the third inning, UVV re-took the lead by scoring three unearned runs.
After a grounder and flyout accounted for two outs, Quin Cotton reached on an error and moved to third base on a single by Jorge Luis Espinal Ventura.
A following grounder by J'mar Calliste then led to two errors, a run (and thus a 2-1 lead for UVV) and runners at second and third base.
Moments later, Espinal and Calliste both scored on a single by Stefan Kuipers.
It appeared more runs were in the making, as UVV then got the bases loaded when Lucas Bekker and Etienne van Tielraden both walked.
But a grounder ended the at bat.
UVV added two more runs in the top of the fifth.
First, the team got the bases loaded again.
Jorge Luis Espinal Ventura led off with a single, then stole both second and third base,
A walk for J'mar Calliste and a hit batter for Stefan Kuipers followed, which led to a pitching change.
Jan-Willem Geerts took over and a rare force play followed when Lucas Bekker hit a pop-fly behind second base.
There, second baseman Daan Groenewoud ran backwards and rightfielder Raul Jacobs ran inwards and the ball dropped between them on the border of the infield.
Calliste (the runner at second base) had to wait whether or not the ball was caught, but when it dropped, he took off towards third base.
Groenewoud picked up the ball and threw it short stop Jesse Aussems, where Kuipers (the runner from first base) slid in time.
Aussems relayed the ball immediately to third baseman Denzel Brooks, which led to a force out at third base, as Calliste was not able to be there in time.
In the meantime, Espinal scored and Bekker reached on a fielder's choice.
Next, UVV got the bases loaded again when Etienne van Tielraden singled.
Kuipers then scored on a sacrifice fly by Timothy Rojas.
After Bekker and Van Tielraden had advanced on a wild pitch, UVV got the bases loaded for the third time in this at bat when Malcolm Marlin walked.
But this time, the three runners stranded, as a flyout ended the at bat.
However, UVV now led 6-1.
RCH-Pinguïns was retired in order in the third and fourth inning, but then scored three runs (two unearned) in the bottom of the fifth to narrow the deficit to 6-4.
Luis Gonzalez Garay led off with a double.
A grounder by Daan Groenewoud ended in an error.
That moved Gonzalez to third base, but he also was able to score on the error.
An one-hop infield-hit at the right side of second base by Jeldwin Orman followed, then a hit batter for Jesse Aussems loaded the bases.
With three runners on base, Aaron Isenia struckout the next batter, but then saw RCH score two runs when a throwing error was made on a following grounder by Denzel Brooks.
With runners at second and third base, a grounder ended the inning.
The home-team got runners on second and third base with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but was unable to score this time.
When Koen Werkman led off with a walk, UVV went to the bullpen.
Veteran righthander Jurjen van Zijl took over the pitching from Aaron Isenia.
Van Zijl was the starting pitcher last Saturday against Quick Amersfoort.
He then threw 105 pitches in 5 1/3 inning.
Tonight, the righthander threw 45 pitches in the last three innings and earned a save.
But first he got two runners in scoring position in the sixth.
Werkman stole second base, then Van Zijl hit Luis Gonzalez Garay with a pitch.
The two advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Daan Groenewoud, but then were left behind.
In the top of the seventh, it was UVV that came close to some scoring again.
The team got four baserunners, but left three of them behind and was unable to score.
Stefan Kuipers led off with an infield-hit and was moved to second base via a sacrifice bunt by Lucas Bekker.
UVV got runners on second and third base when a grounder by Etienne van Tielraden ended in an error.
Hereafter, Kuipers got into a rundown on a grounder towards first base by Timothy Rojas.
Kuipers was eliminated, but Van Tielraden and Rojas ended up on third and second base.
Next, the bases got loaded when Malcolm Marlin walked, but Jan-Willem Geerts then has a strong finish and ended this scoring threat by striking out Raoell Kortstam.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, RCH scored an unearned run to narrow the deficit to 6-5.
Jesse Aussems led off with a single and advanced on a wild pitch.
Next batter Aldrich Guzman drove the ball into deep leftfield, where it was caught.
Aussems then tried to advance to third base, but leftfielder Stefan Kuipers made a strong throw to third baseman Timothy Rojas, who tagged out Aussems to complete a double play.
Hereafter, Denzel Brooks was able to reach third base on a throwing error, then scored on an infield-hit by Thomas Kwakernaak.
However, the inning then ended when Kwakernaak was picked off first base by Jurjen van Zijl.
In the top of the eighth, UVV took some more distance by scoring two unearned runs with two outs.
With one out, Jorge Luis Espinal Ventura reached on an error.
He then stole second base while J'mar Calliste struckout.
With two outs, Espinal scored on the fourth basehit in the game by Stefan Kuipers.
The latter then scored himself on a following single by Lucas Bekker to make it an 8-5 score.
In the bottom of the eighth, Jurjen van Zijl got one more baserunner.
With one out, he gave up a single to Luis Gonzalez Garay, who was then replaced by pinch-runner Paris Aguilera Zayas.
Moments later, the latter was caught stealing after a pick-off.
A grounder ended the bottom of the eighth.
And as the 10:30 PM curfew-time had been reached, this also ended tonight's game.
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Remaining game RCH-Pinguïns vs. UVV finally played; Eighth sweep avoided
HEEMSTEDE (Neth.) -
The third (and remaining) game of the Opening Series between RCH Memorie Sieraden and UVV was finally played on Tuesday-evening (April 18).
The game initially was to be the Opening Game of the season on April 6, but then rained out and was moved to the next day.
It then was cancelled again and re-scheduled for last Tuesday (April 11).
But for the third time, the game rained out and moved to tonight.
This time, it could finally be played and UVV won 8-5.
With that, UVV not only won its first game of the season (breaking a 5-game losing streak), the team also avoided a sweep.
Since the start of the season, all other seven 3-game series played so far ended in a sweep.
RCH-Pinguïns won the first two games of this series, but UVV avoided an eighth sweep by winning tonight.
It has never happened before that seven series ended in sweep since the start of the season since the introduction of 3-game series.
Game was originally scheduled for Thursday, April 6, but then cancelled in the early evening due to rain and field-conditions and re-scheduled for Friday, April 7, but then cancelled again due to field-conditions.