 Starting Pitchers Opening Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Opening Day is approaching as so is Opening Weekend.
The first games of the 2012 Baseball Season are scheduled to be played on Thursday-evening, April 5, starting at 7:30 PM.
By the way, all evening games this season will start at 7:30 PM instead of 7:45 PM, which was the starting time in the last years.
And with Opening Day on the agenda, it is time for the Head Coaches (and their staff) to make decisions again.
Which players will be carried on the rosters, but also what will the pitching rotations be?
Grand Slam * Stats & News again will bring you a weekly listing of the starting pitchers for the upcoming series, but of course assignments can change on game days.
Since March 10, 45 exhibition games have been played, including the eight big league-teams, but now it is all for real.
A complete recap of all these exhibition games is in the making, but unfortunately, not all information is available yet, which also was the reason that no recaps were published earlier.
L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. UVV
Dutch champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates opens the season with a 3-game series against UVV and opens on the road on Thursday-evening in Vleuten.
Last season, UVV made its comeback in the highest division and finished in fifth place, therefore missing the Play-Offs.
This season, UVV is led for the first time by Head Coach Frank Koene, while Charles Urbanus is leading the Amsterdam-squad in his sixth season and third since coming back in the capitol in 2010.
On Saturday, the teams play in Amsterdam and on Sunday, Vleuten is the site again.
Koene has not yet named a starting pitcher for Sunday's game, as that is dependable of which pitchers will be needed in relief in the first two games.
Urbanus will be unable to use Frank van Heijst in this series, as the righthander is recovering from an injury.
But Urbanus has enough pitchers on his roster he can use if needed.
| Probable Starting Pitchers |
|
 | |
RHP Orlando Yntema (0-0)
RHP Jurjen van Zijl (0-0)
to be announced | |
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 | |
RHP Rob Cordemans (0-0)
RHP Jos de Jong (0-0)
RHP Ben Grover (0-0)
| |  |
|
Vaessen Pioniers vs. Corendon Kinheim
Vaessen Pioniers, which was the losing team in last years Holland Series, opens the season against Corendon Kinheim.
The team from Hoofddorp plays at home on Thursday and Sunday, while Kinheim will be the host on Saturday in Haarlem.
Pioniers is led again by Robert Klaver, who is in his second season since coming back in Hoofddorp last year for his second term and his sixth overall.
Eelco Jansen enters his fourth season as Head Coach of Kinheim.
Sunday's starter for Pioniers is American righthander Joey Evans, who arrived on Tuesday.
After coming weekend, the team will add Swen Huijer to its pitching staff, as the righthander was released by the Boston Red Sox this week.
| Probable Starting Pitchers |
|
 | |
LHP Mika de Lincel (0-0)
RHP Kevin Miner (0-0)
RHP Joey Evans (0-0) | |
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 | |
RHP David Bergman (0-0)
RHP Luke Sommer (0-0)
LHP Nick Veltkamp (0-0)
| |  |
|
DOOR Neptunus vs. Sparta-Feyenoord
DOOR Neptunus, which was eliminated by L&D Amsterdam Pirates in the final game of the new format Play-Offs, opens the season against Sparta-Feyenoord, which finished in sixth place in 2011.
In this Rotterdam-derby, Neptunus plays at home on Thursday and Sunday, while playing at Sparta-Feyenoord on Saturday.
Jan Collins is the Head Coach again for Neptunus in his second season, since taking over last year.
This is his eleventh overall as Head Coach, as earlier he was the Head Coach in 1995-1998 and later was a member of a 3-man coaching staff that led the squad.
Dino Anasagasti enters his first full season as Head Coach of Sparta-Feyenoord since taking over on July 13 last year.
Anasagasti will be unable to use outfielder Edison Bito in the upcoming series, due to a hamstring-injury.
| Probable Starting Pitchers |
|
 | |
LHP Diegomar Markwell (0-0)
RHP Kevin Heijstek (0-0)
RHP Bobby Carrington (0-0) | |
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 | |
RHP Quinn Tramm (0-0)
LHP Gregory Gustina (0-0)
RHP Elton Koeiman (0-0)
| |  |
|
AamigoO ADO Lakers vs. Mr. Cocker HCAW
AamigoO ADO Lakers finished in last place last season and therefore had to play a decisive (and successful) Play-Off series to stay in the big league.
The team from The Hague recently merged with Losdun Lakers (from the same city) and therefore got a new name.
In it's Opening Series, it meets Mr. Cocker HCAW, which last season finished in seventh place.
The teams play in The Hague on Thursday and Sunday and in Bussum on Saturday.
Both teams are lead this season by new Head Coaches.
Dave Daniels returns to the big league in his first year as Head Coach of ADO, where he was the interim Head Coach for three games in 1994.
HCAW is led by Rudy Dirksen for the first time.
For Sunday's game, Dirksen named two possible starters.
American righthander Kyle Putnam arrives on Thursday and it is expected that he will be ready and in shape to start on Sunday.
If not, righthander Leon Elshof will start instead.
| Probable Starting Pitchers |
|
 | |
RHP Reggie Bomberg (0-0)
RHP Ibrahim Redan (0-0)
RHP Thomas Macy (0-0) | |
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 | |
LHP Robin Schel (0-0)
RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (0-0)
RHP Kyle Putnam (0-0) or RHP Leon Elshof (0-0)
| |  |
|
(April 3)
|
