   Dutch advance to 2nd Round after win vs. Australia
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The Dutch Baseball Team advanced to the Second Round of the World Baseball Classic by winning 4-1 against Australia on Tuesday-afternoon.
It marks the second time in a row that the Dutch Team qualifies for the Second Round.
With this, the team also automatically qualifies for the next Classic in 2017.
Australia not only needed to win today, but also needed a lot of runs to have a chance of advancing to the next round.
During the game, the Technical Committee announced that the Dutch only needed a win today and the clinching to the next round was confirmed to the team by WBC-officials after the game.
When South Korea defeated Australia two days earlier, the scenario already was clear that the Dutch needed to win today to advance.
Later in the day, South Korea and Taiwan would face each other in the final game to determine the second team for the Second Round.'
Whatever the score, it had no influence on the status of the Dutch Team.
It was the Team Quality Balance that decided the outcome.
The TQB is determined as follows: runs scored divided by offense inning played minus runs given up divided by defensive innings.
Before today, the TQB of Taiwan was .667, of the Netherlands .000 and of Korea -.625.
With the Dutch win against the Aussies, the possibilities of a 3-way tie became a reality.
For Taiwan to advance, they just had to win.
For Korea to advance, they had to score six or more runs in order to improve its TQB above that of Taiwan.
When that would have been the case, Taiwan's TQB would have dropped under that of the Dutch Team.
So, with the win against Australia, the Orange was safe in any scenario which would occur during the final game.
Korea won the game vs. Taiwan, 3-2, but despite that didn't qualify.
Taiwan, the Dutch and Korea ended up in a 3-way tie with a 2-1 record, meaning the TQB-formula became in effect to determine the ranking.
Taiwan finished with .255, the Dutch remained at .000 and Korea had -.245, meaning the Dutch Team officially finished in second place behind Taiwan.
And so, Taiwan became the second team to qualify for the Second Round, which will be played in Tokyo (Japan).
And it also means that South Korea, which reached the final in 2009, is now eliminated.
The eight runs given up against Taiwan would only play an important role in case both the Dutch and Korea would have lost today.
In that scenario the Dutch, Korea and Australia would all end with an 1-2 record, meaning the runs would become part of the formula to determine the ranking.
But that was all not necessary.
The Dutch Team now will fly to Tokyo on Wednesday-morning, where it will play its next game in the Tokyo Dome on Friday and meets the winner of Pool A.
That will be either Japan or Cuba, who are both unbeaten and will meet each other on Wednesday in the final game of Pool A in Fukuoka (Japan).
A starting time is not known yet.
At the moment, the time is listed for 7 PM local time (11:00 AM Dutch time) in case Japan wins Pool A and is the opponent of the Dutch.
But when Japan ends up in second place, it will play its game at 7 PM also, meaning that the Dutch Team (which is this case will face Cuba) will play its game at 12 PM local time (4 AM Dutch time).
Also on Friday, Taiwan meets the runner-up of Pool A.
On Saturday, the two losing teams of these games will face each other, while the winners of these games will meet on Saturday.
The Second Round will be a double elimination, meaning that a team is eliminated after its second loss.
...Winning pitcher Rob Cordemans...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Dutch Manager Hensley Meulens made one change to his starting line-up, as Randolph Oduber played in leftfield instead of Kalian Sams, who played there in the first two games.
Righthander Rob Cordemans had (another) great outing, pitching five solid innings, while Oduber accounted for the defensive highlight with a great diving catch and Jonathan Schoop contributed with a 2-run homerun.
Facing 38-year old veteran pitcher Rob Cordemans, Australia somewhat threatened in the first inning.
With one out, Mitch Dening lined a single down the rightfield-line.
With two outs, he stole second base and was able to move to third base when the throw from catcher Dashenko Ricardo ended up in centerfield.
But with Dening at third base, a pop-fly to short stop Andrelton Simmons ended the inning.
The Dutch Team was more productive in its first at bat moments later off of former DOOR Neptunus-pitcher Dushan Ruzic.
Andrelton Simmons led off with a double, which was the first Dutch basehit after the previous 26 plate appearances went hitless against Taiwan.
Simmons then advanced on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Jonathan Schoop and opened the score when Roger Bernadina lined a single into centerfield.
Andruw Jones followed with another single to put runners at the corners, but both were left.
In the second inning, Mike Walker singled for Australia with one out, but also stranded.
The Orange then staged a 3-run rally in the second inning to improve the lead to 4-0.
Curt Smith led off with a single, then Dashenko Ricardo hit a soft grounder towards the third base-line.
Pitcher Dushan Ruzic fielded the ball, then better could have hold onto it, as Ricardo would have reached first base anyway.
But Ruzic threw the ball and it went by the first baseman into foul territory, enabling the two runners to advance to third and second base respectively.
Smith and Ricardo then hold when Randolph Oduber grounded out hitting on the first pitch he saw.
Moments later, Smith could scored when Andrelton Simmons also grounded out.
Hereafter, Jonathan Schoop drilled the ball into deep leftfield for a 2-run homerun and make it a 4-0 score.
The Dutch Team appeared to add more runs in the home of the third inning, as it got the bases loaded with one out off of new pitcher Chris Oxspring.
Wladimir Balentien led off with a double, then Andruw Jones was hit by a pitch.
After the two advanced on a sac-bunt by Xander Bogaerts, the bases got loaded when Oxspring pitched around Curt Smith and walked him.
But then, Dashenko Ricardo grounded into an inning-ending double play.
...Randolph Oduber made a great catch in leftfield...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Dutch then left again two runners in the fourth at bat.
Oxspring walked lead-off batter Randolph Oduber, then made a fielding error on a comeback-grounder by Andrelton Simmons.
Next, it was again opted to advance the runners via a sacrifice bunt, but this time the bunt by Jonathan Schoop ended in a force play at third base.
Oxspring then struckout Roger Bernadina and Wladimir Balentien followed with a pop-fly to end the inning.
In the meantime, Rob Cordemans did great on the Dutch mound.
After giving up the one-out single in the second inning, the righthander retired the next eleven batters in a row to complete five innings.
He struckout three of the last four batters he faced, then had to leave, because he had reached his maximum of 65 allowed pitches.
In the home of the fifth, Andruw Jones became the fifth concesutive Dutch lead-off hitter to reach, as he walked, but then a double play followed.
David Bergman took over the pitching for the Dutch in the sixth inning and was supported with a defensive highlight.
With one out, he gave up a single, then a flyout followed, but the inning then ended when leftfielder Randolph Oduber made a great diving catch on a line drive by Luke Hughes.
After the Dutch Team was retired in order for the first time in the sixth inning, Bergman gave up a lead-off double to Stefan Welch in the seventh at bat.
Two pop-outs followed, then Bergman was replaced by lefthander Jonathan Balentina to face lefthanded hitter Corey Adamson, who had entered the inning before as new rightfielder.
Balentina's first pitch hit Adamson to put him at first base, then Leon Boyd was brought in as new pitcher.
Boyd was greeted with an RBI-single by Brad Harman that scored Welch and ended a streak of 17 scoreless innings by the Aussies.
Hereafter, Boyd finished the inning with a strikeout.
In the eighth inning, Boyd was supported with a double play after he had walked the lead-off hitter.
In the bottom of the eighth, Xander Bogaerts led off with a double, but stranded at second base.
In the top of the ninth, Loek van Mil closed the game.
With one out, he gave up two singles, then Brad Harman drove the ball into deep leftfield, but there Randolph Oduber caught it just in front of the wall.
Van Mil then ended the game with a strikeout.
| Pitching Stats |
| pitcher | INN | SO | BB | H |
| Rob Cordemans, W | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| David Bergman | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jonathan Balentina | - (*) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leon Boyd | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Loek van Mil, SV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| (*) - Balentina pitched to one batter in the 7th inning |
Playing in today's game were:
Andrelton Simmons (SS, 1-for-4), Jonathan Schoop (2B, 1-for-3), Roger Bernadina (CF, 1-for-4), Wladimir Balentien (RF, 1-for-3, walk), Andruw Jones (DH, 1-for-2, hit by pitch, walk), Xander Bogaerts (3B, 1-for-3), Curt Smith (1B, 1-for-3, walk), Dashenko Ricardo (C, 1-for-4), Randolph Oduber (LF, 0-for-3, walk).
...With the starting line-up standing on the foul-line...
...the team listens to the National Anthem... | | 
...Rob Cordemans threw five solid innings...
|
...Players follow to at bat of Andruw Jones... | | 
...David Bergman took over in the 6th inning... |
...Randolph Oduber makes his diving catch in the 6th inning... | | 
...Jonathan Balentina threw only one pitch in the 7th inning... |
...Short Stop Andrelton Simmons completes...
...a double play in the 8th inning... | | 
...Xander Bogaerts dives into second base head first...
...after hitting a double in the 8th inning... |
...Closer Loek van Mil pumps his fist after striking...
...out the final Australian batter in the 9th inning... | | 
...The players congratulate each other with the win...
...and the clinching of the Second Round... |
| (© All Photos: Henk Seppen) |
(March 5)
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