 Neptunus almost secures first place
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Tuesday-evening, DOOR Neptunus and Corendon Kinheim made up their game of last Sunday, which then rained out.
And so, the regular season series between these two teams finally ended.
The three games in this series scheduled in Rotterdam rained out a total of six times, but tonight, it was concluded with an 11-3 victory for Neptunus.
Both teams have won three of their games against each other.
With tonight's victory, Neptunus eliminated Kinheim for first place now leads second placed L&D Amsterdam Pirates by five points (or 2 1/2 games).
Coming Thursday, Neptunus meets Amsterdam in Game 1 of a 3-game series which ends the regular season.
In its first 3-game series, Neptunus won two of the three games.
Amsterdam has to win all three games to finish in first place.
Neptunus needs only one point to secure first place, meaning a tie in the 3-game series is enough for the Rotterdam-squad.
The team that finishes in first place not only wins the Bleesing Cup (or KNBSB Cup), but also qualifies to participate in one of the two European Cup Qualifier Tournaments of next year.
The teams that finish in first and second place have home advantage in the Play-Offs, which open on Thursday, August 22.
In the Play-Offs, the top-4 meets each other in three 3-game series.
The winners then qualify for the Holland Series.
Whatever the result against Pirates, Neptunus already secured home advantage, as it will finish in either first or second place.
Amsterdam is in second place and leads Corendon Kinheim by only three points and Vaessen Pioniers by only four points, meaning these two teams still have a chance to finish in second place.
Kinheim closes the season against last placed ADO Lakers, while Pioniers meets UVV, which is in fifth place.
Tonight, Kinheim outhit Neptunus 13-7, but four pitchers walked eleven batters, including seven by starting pitcher Leon Boyd, who also hit a batter.
After Kinheim stranded two runners, Neptunus opened the score with five runs in the first at bat on only two hits.
Lead-off hitter Gianison Boekhoudt walked, but was forced out on a grounder by Benjamin Dille.
Next, Raily Legito was hit by a pitch, then Dwayne Kemp followed with an RBI-single to open the score.
The bases then got loaded when Rafaël Jozefa walked.
The next run was then scored when Gyenuar Lopez also walked, followed by a 2-run double by Rudy Van Heydoorn.
A sacrifice fly by Adrian Anthony then made it 5-0.
Kinheim then left two more runners in both the second and third inning, but scored once in the third on a single by Quintin De Cuba.
In the fourth, Kinheim scored another run when Roy Seltenrijch led off with a double and scored on an one-out single by Remco Draijer, but then Neptunus turned a double play.
In the home of the fourth, Neptunus added two runs when Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a homerun and Raily Legito followed with an one-out homerun.
That marked the end for Leon Boyd, who was relieved by Pim Walsma.
Kinheim again left two runners in the fifth inning, then Neptunus scored twice in the home half of the fifth.
Gyenuar Lopez led off with a walk, then an error was made on a force play-grounder by Rudy Van Heydoorn.
The bases got loaded when Adrian Anthony also walked.
A strikeout followed, but then Lopez scored on a wild pitch and Van Heydoorn scored when an error was made on a grounder by Benjamin Dille.
Kinheim scored its third run in the eighth inning off of reliever Diornick Sanchez.
Jeffrey Arends led off with a walk, moved to third on a double by Quintin De Cuba and scored on a 2-out single by Björn Henrichs.
But Neptunus scored two more runs in its eighth at bat off of new pitcher Dion Steijl.
With one out, Dwayne Kemp doubled and scored on a triple by Gyenuar Lopez, who himself was able to score when an error followed.
(August 13)
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...Gianison Boekhoudt & Raily Legito => homeruns...
(© Photos: Henk Seppen) |
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