  Dutch Team also wins second exhibition game
Nederlands
 LA CHORRERA (Panama) -
The Dutch Baseball Team also won the second exhibition game of its preparations for the World Cup, which opens on Saturday, October 1.
Today, Tuesday, September 27, the Dutch squad won 6-5 vs. Panama, which will be the host country of the upcoming Championship.
On Wednesday, the Dutch Team plays its next exhibition game and then meets Taiwan, which also will be the first opponent during the Championship on October 2.
Both the Dutch and Panamese teams collected eight basehits in this game, which was played again in Estadio Justing Salínas in La Chorrera under 35 degrees Celsius.
Both teams also scored once in the third inning, but then the Dutch struck in the fourth at bat with a 4-run rally, highlighted by a homerun by Sharlon Schoop.
In the end, this rally proved to be decisive.
For Schoop, this was his third homerun in two days, as he also hit two in the first game on Monday against Venezuela.
...Sharlon Schoop...
...Third homerun in two days...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Panama got single runs back in the fifth and seventh inning to narrow the Dutch lead to 5-3, then added a run in the eighth at bat.
The Dutch got one run back in the home of the eighth and that indeed was an insurance run, as Panama scored a run of its own in the ninth, but ended up empty handed.
Juan Carlos Sulbaran started for the Dutch Team and threw five innings, giving up two runs.
He struckout four batters, gave up four hits and walked three.
In the sixth inning, Tom Stuifbergen took over and completed the game.
The righthander struckout three, walked one and gave up four hits, but saw his defense also commit three errors.
Stuifbergen gave up the three Panamese runs late in the game, but nevertheless earned a save.
Xander Bogaerts, who turns 19 next Saturday, made his debut in the Dutch Team when he entered the game as third baseman.
This year, the Aruban concluded his second professional season in the organisation of the Boston Red Sox, playing in Single-A.
Last year, he played in the Rookie League-team that was based in the Dominican Republic.
On Wednesday, Jonathan Schoop, another rookie on the Dutch roster, will join the team.
On Monday, Schoop was honored before the start of the Major League-game of the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox.
The 19-year old Schoop then was handed the Brooks Robinson Minor League Player of the Year Award of the Oriole-organisation, which is named after its famous third baseman.
This season, Schoop played in 128 games for two Single-A teams of the Orioles, hitting .290 with 13 homeruns and 71 runs batted in.
Also honored on Monday was pitcher Tim Bascom, who won the Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award.
Orlando Gomez, who led the Frederick Keys (Single-A) to the championship in the Carolina League as its Manager, won the Cal Ripken, Sr. Player Development Award.
Panama, which had won its first two exhibition games against Venezuela, on Monday, lost big vs. Cuba, 14-3.
In that game, Cuba collected 24 basehits, including three homeruns, two of which were hit by veteran Frederich Cepeda, the third came off the bat of Héctor Olivera.
Panama, which hit only six hits, was held scoreless by starter Freddy Asiel Álvarez, then scored its first run in the eighth inning on a reliever.
In today's game, which again was played at 10:00 AM, the starting line-up was as follows:
Danny Rombley (LF, 0-for-4), Mariekson Gregorius (SS, 1-for-3), Sidney de Jong (C, 1-for-3), Curt Smith (1B, 0-for-2), Bryan Engelhardt (DH, 1-for-4), Kalian Sams (RF, 0-for-4), Vince Rooi (3B, 1-for-4), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 1-for-1), Shaldimar Daantji (CF, 1-for-2).
During the game, Manager Brian Farley made the following changes:
Bas Nooij took over the catching for De Jong and batted 0-for-2.
Michael Duursma took over at second base for Schoop and batted 1-for-2.
Xander Bogaerts replaced Smith, played at third base and batted 0-for-1 with Rooi moving from third to first base.
Dwayne Kemp (1-for-2) replaced Daantji and went on to play in leftfield, with Sams moving to centerfield and Rombley moving to rightfield.
(September 27)
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...Today's pitchers Juan Carlos Sulbaran (5 innings) and Tom Stuifbergen (4 innings)...
(© Photos: Henk Seppen) |
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