(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Robert Bos, Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
 New beginning for The Hawks
Nederlands
 DORDRECHT (Neth.) -
Last season, Mampaey The Hawks relegated after losing the Promotion/Relegation Play-Off against DSS.
Several players left and The Hawks was preparing for a season in the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse').
In February of this year, ADO Lakers withdraw its team from the big league and The Hawks was asked to fill in the vacant spot.
The Hawks accepted and with that stayed in the big league after all.
Several players who had left the team to play for ADO Lakers returned to The Hawks, but of course it missed several players, who had transfered to other teams.
And so, The Hawks knew before the season started that it would be a tough year.
In the end, only seven of the 42 regular season-games were won, there were some coaching changes and the team ended up in last place.
With that, The Hawks again had to play in the Promotion/Relegation Play-Offs, this time against Twins.
The Hawks was swept 3-0 and with that, relegated for the second year in a row.
In the transfer-period, the team saw twelve players leave, with eight of them going to play for big league-teams in 2016.
Eight players came to Dordrecht to play for The Hawks next season.
That will be a season of building a new team and looking ahead to what the future brings.
...Paul Roodenburg...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In 2016, The Hawks will be led by veteran coach Peter van den Akker, who wasn't active in the past two seasons.
In the late nineties, Van den Akker coached at The Rotterdam Orioles, but then joined Sparta-Feijenoord, where he led the big league-squad for four years (2001-2005).
Hereafter, he led Euro Stars in seven seasons, before coaching Brasschaat Braves in the Belgian competition in 2012 and 2013.
Van den Akker will be assisted by former big league-player Orlando Eduarda.
Van den Akker succeeds Paul Roodenburg, who took over as Interim Head Coach on July 20, replacing Eugene Henson.
Coming to The Hawks were several talented players.
A player with big league-experience is outfielder Aldrich Guzman.
This season, he played in 14 games for HCAW, hitting .077 (2-for-26) with three RBI's.
The Hawks saw two players come to Dordrecht from Tridents, which is the Rookie League-team of Dutch reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus.
They are infielders Shaydromar Jamanika and Sheadion Jamanika.
They are two of at least seven players who have left Tridents, which won the Dutch championship in the Rookie League this season.
Another newcomer is Andrew Wanata, who played for Giants in Hengelo in the past.
A player, who briefly played in the big league is Alexander van Leest, who played for ADO Lakers in the 2013 season.
He then played in 19 games and batted .111 with six runs scored.
Coming from the Antilles are Shurick Jano, Jurnest Virginie and S. Tanista.
...Steven Wharwood... | 
...Berend Ruben... |
| (© Both Photos: Robert Bos) |
Outfielder Steven Wharwood moved to champion Curaçao Neptunus.
He was the second-best hitter this season of The Hawks, led the team in runs scored (15) and batted in 11 runs.
A year ago, Wharwood also was the second-best hitter of The Hawks and then batted .273.
In his first big league-season in 2013, he batted .295 for The Hawks.
Leaving to play for UVV in the big league are pitchers José Moreno, Quinn Tramm, Kevin van Veen and infielder Berend Ruben.
Reliever Moreno led the staff of The Hawks with a 4.24 ERA.
He was 0-4 this season and struckout 12 batters in 46 2/3 inning, while walking 19.
Moreno pitched in 24 games, one of which he started.
Tramm was 2-7 this season with a 5.96 ERA.
Tramm was one of the starters, as he started 11 of the 16 games he pitched in.
He struckout a team-leading 39 batters in 68 innings, but also led the staff with 46 walks.
Van Veen was 1-7 this season with a 6.05 ERA.
He struckout 28 batters in 68 innings and was used both as starter (nine games) and reliever (seven games).
Berend Ruben was the third-best hitter of The Hawks, hitting .264 (29-for-110).
Ruben primarily played at second base and he scored seven runs, while batting in 13.
...Quinn Tramm... | 
...Brian Raap... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
Catcher/infielder Julian Goins will play for HCAW next season.
This season, he was the third-best hitter for The Hawks, hitting .264 (32-for-121).
He scored 12 runs and batted in 17, playing in 39 games.
Transfering to Vaessen Pioniers are catcher/3rd baseman Brian Raap and infielder Stephen Henson.
Raap was the leading hitter this season, hitting .279 (29-for-104).
He scored 11 runs and batted in ten, while stealing eight bases.
Last year, Raap played for ADO Lakers and also has played for Sparta-Feijenoord in the past.
Henson played in 34 games this season and was the team's fifth best hitter with a .228 batting average.
He scored 12 runs and batted in five, while stealing six bases.
Henson led the team with two triples.
Like Raap, Henson played for ADO Lakers in the 2014 season.
Righthander Evan Simons, infielder Tim Roodenburg and outfielders Kilian Jansen and Jules Peters will play for Euro Stars in 2016.
Simons was 0-9 this season with a 9.16 ERA, pitching in 16 games (10 starts).
He struckout 17 batters in 55 innings, but also gave up 94 basehits.
Roodenburg played in 23 games, hitting .156 (10-for-64).
Roodenburg scored five runs and batted in two, while also stealing two bases.
He also appeared in four games as a pitcher and was 0-1 with one save.
Peters played in 18 games, hitting .310 (18-for-58) with seven runs scored and five RBI's, while stealing four bases.
Jansen appeared in 13 games and batted .150 (3-for-20).
...Kevin van Veen... | 
...Evan Simons... | 
...Julian Goins... | 
...Stephen Henson... | 
...Jules Peters... |
| (© All Photos: Robert Bos) | (© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
(November 1)
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