(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Dutch U21 Team empty-handed again on World Championship
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The Netherlands U21 Team today suffered its third consecutive loss on the first World Baseball Under 21 Championship in Taiwan.
On Taichung Baseball Field, the Dutch Team failed to hold onto a 4-0 lead against Nicaragua, which rallied for five runs in the sixth inning and went on to win 6-4.
With the loss, the Dutch Team was elimated for the Championship Round.
...Urving Kemp (here batting for Neptunus) doubled...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In Group A, the Czech Republic stunted against Italy by winning 3-1.
For the Czechs, this is an important win.
For Italy, which already had won two games, this can become a very costly loss.
The top-3 of each group advances to the Championship Round and in case of a tie, the Czechs will have the advantage.
Dutch Umpire Winfried Berkvens today was the 1B Umpire in the game between South Korea and Mexico.
Dutch starting pitcher Vincent Anthonia initially did well.
The 20-year old lefthander, who pitches for the baseball-team of Jackson State University (USA), survived a busy first inning.
He gave up a lead-off single, walked the next batter, then gave up a bunt-single that loaded the bases.
Anthonia was then supported with a 5-2-3 double play and he escaped unharmed when a flyout ended the at bat.
In the second and third inning, Anthonia walked the lead-off hitter, but this time didn't ran into big problems.
He then gave up a lead-off double in the fourth, but again held Nicaragua from scoring.
In the meantime, the Dutch Team had opened the score in the third inning.
After having left two runners in the first and another one in the second, the Orange scored once in the third.
Kirvin Moesquit led off with a double and stole third base.
He then scored when Dudley Leonora grounded out.
A bunt-single by Kevin Moesquit followed.
He also stole second base and Daniel Fernandes then walked, but Aldair Adamus then went after the first pitch and grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Three runs were added with two outs in the fifth inning.
This time, Kirvin Moesquit led off with a walk.
He was able to advance to third base when a throwing error was made on a force play-grounder by Dudley Leonora, who himself ended up at second base.
After a flyout and strikeout, a run was scored on a wild pitch, then Aldair Adamus connected for a runscoring single.
The bases got loaded when Jorin van Amstel walked and another run was added when Urving Kemp also walked.
That resulted in a pitching change, who got out of the inning thanks to a force play-grounder by Dennis Gustina.
With this, three runners were left behind, but the Dutch Team had now an apparent comfortable 4-0 lead.
Anthonia then retired the side in the fifth inning and returned to the mound in the sixth.
And that proved to be one inning too much, as Nicaragua rallied for five runs.
It also was an inning in which the Dutch defense committed three costly errors.
After lead-off hitter Emmanuel Meza reached second base on an error, Anthonia gave up an RBI-double to Marvin Martinez and a single to Jorge Narvaez, which was followed by an outfield-error, resulting in another run.
Hereafter, Reggie Bomberg took over the pitching, but he got the bases loaded when he walked the first batter he faced, then hit the next with a pitch.
A runscoring single by Jordan Pavon followed and that led to another pitching change.
Kaj Timmermans was brought in, got a flyout, but then gave up an RBI-double to Arnol Rizo that tied the score, while another runner was eliminated at the plate when he also tried to score.
A pop-fly in the infield was then missed, which led to the fifth run in the inning and gave Nicaragua a 5-4 lead.
The Dutch offense was unable to turn the game around again in its favor.
The Orange was held scoreless in the last four innings, despite getting several runners in scoring position.
In the 7th inning, the Dutch Team got the bases loaded with two outs.
With one out, Cezan Rafaela singled and advanced on a passed ball and a grounder.
Then, with two outs, Urving Kemp and pinch-hitter Milton Croes walked to load the bases.
But the three were left behind when a flyout followed.
Nicaragua added an insurance run in the eighth inning.
Timmermans gave up a lead-off triple to Pedro Reyes and was then replaced by Scott Ronnenbergh.
The lefthanded former pro struckout the first batter he faced, then retired Kenn Alegria on a sacrifice bunt, but that also brought in Reyes to make it 6-4.
In the top of the 9th inning, Jorin van Amstel and pinch-hitter Kevin Weijgertse both walked with two outs, but were left behind, as Croes flied out to end the game.
| Pitchers |
| Pitcher | INN | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Vincent Anthonia | 5 (*) | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Reggie Bomberg, L (0-1) | - (**) | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Kaj Timmermans, BS (1) | 2 (***) | - | - | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Scott Ronnenbergh | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| (*) - Anthonia pitched to 3 batters in the 6th inning |
| (**) - Bomberg pitched to 3 batters in the 6th inning |
| (***) - Timmermans pitched to 1 batter in the 8th inning |
Today's starting line-up was as follows:
Kirvin Moesquit (SS, 1-for-4), Dudley Leonora (1B, 2-for-5), Kevin Moesquit (2B, 1-for-4), Daniel Fernandes (RF, 0-for-2), Aldair Adamus (C, 1-for-5), Cezan Rafaela (3B, 2-for-4), Jorin van Amstel (DH, 1-for-3), Urving Kemp (LF, 1-for-2), Dennis Gustina (CF, 0-for-3).
In the bottom of the 6th inning, when Reggie Bomberg took over the pitching, Jules Peters (0-for-1) entered the game as new rightfielder, replacing Fernandes.
In the top of the 7th inning, Milton Croes (0-for-1) was pinch-hitter for Gustina, then moved into rightfield in the bottom of the 7th inning, while Peters switched to centerfield.
In the top of the 9th inning, Kevin Weijgertse (0-for-0) was pinch-hitter for Kemp, then Steven Wharwood was inserted as pinch-runner for Weijgertse after he had walked.
Other scores:
Monday, November 10
Group B - Nicaragua vs. Netherlands, 6-4
Group A - South Korea vs. Mexico, 10-0 (7 inn.)
Group A - Czech Republic vs. Italy, 3-1
Group B - Australia vs. Venezuela, 17-1 (6½ inn.)
Group A - New Zealand vs. Taiwan, 0-7
(November 10)
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