 Van 't Klooster now has played most games ever; Kinheim completes Play-Off quartet
Nederlands
    HAARLEM / ROTTERDAM / VLEUTEN / THE HAGUE (Neth.) -
Dirk van 't Klooster has now played the most games ever in Dutch big league-history.
Tonight (Thursday, July 31), the veteran rightfielder of Vaessen Pioniers played in his 860th career game at the highest level to break the All-Time Record set by Marcel Joost in 2002.
Van 't Klooster played the historic game against Corendon Kinheim, the club where he had played the previous eight seasons before heading to Pioniers for this season.
Van 't Klooster was 1-for-4 tonight.
The basehit increased his total to 1169.
Last Sunday, he broke the All-Time Basehit Record by hitting his 1167th career basehit.
Tonight, Kinheim won 8-5 vs. Pioniers to become the fourth and final team to qualify for the Play-Offs, which will open on August 14.
Kinheim joins L&D Amsterdam Pirates as the second team in the second half of the competition to secure a spot in the final round.
DOOR Neptnus and Pioniers clinched in the first half of the season.
With this, the same four clubs that dominate the league the last seven years are back in the Play-Offs again!
Both Kinheim and Pirates used a surprise starting pitcher tonight.
Arshwin Asjes started for Kinheim and Jurrian Koks began for Pirates.
Both are closers and didn't start a game since 2010.
The last time Asjes started a game in the big league was on August 15, 2010 when he played for Pioniers.
He then pitched five innings in a 2-1 victory against Almere Magpies, but had a no-decision.
Since then, Asjes has pitched 89 games in relief in the regular season, before starting tonight.
He threw seven innings tonight and became the winning pitcher.
The last time Koks started a game was on June 1, 2010 when he pitched the first three innings for ADO against Pirates.
Back then, Koks was the losing pitcher.'
After this start, Koks threw 96 games in relief, before starting tonight.
Initially, Rob Cordemans was to be the starter for Amsterdam, but he was scratched minutes before the start of the game due to a slight groin-injury.
Last Tuesday, Koks threw the final two innings for Pirates in a make-up game against Mr. Cocker HCAW.
Tonight, Koks threw five innings, but had a no-decision against Neptunus.
Amsterdam won 1-0 thanks to a basesloaded single by Remco Draijer with one out in the top of the ninth inning.
This means that Neptunus now has lost three regular season games in a row, which last happened in 2009.
Back then, from May 7 through May 16, Neptunus lost five games in a row.
First, Amsterdam Pirates swept Neptunus in three games.
The team then also lost the next two games vs. Sparta-Feyenoord.
In the 2012 Holland Series, Neptunus was swept in four games by Kinheim.
UVV rallied for seven runs in the third inning vs. Mampaey The Hawks to win 8-1.
However, UVV became the final team to be eliminated for the Play-Offs due to the victory of Kinheim.
Mr. Cocker HCAW tonight won 8-4 vs. ADO Lakers.
HCAW took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but trailed 5-4 after the fifth at bat.
HCAW then came alongside in the seventh and added three runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by a 2-run triple by Linoy Croes.
(July 31)
(more later)
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