Amsterdam got a chance of opening the score in the first at bat off of starter Marquis Fleming.
The 28-year old righthander, born in Oakland (USA), played seven years professionally in the organisation of Tampa Bay Rays (2008-2014).
In 2011 and 2012, he reached the Triple-A level.
Today, Fleming struckout seven batters, but also walked six, while giving up only three basehits in the six innings he pitched.
In the first at bat, he walked Michael Duursma with one out.
Hereafter, Nick Urbanus went after the first pitch, but fouled out.
Fleming then walked Kenny Berkenbosch, but a grounder ended the at bat.
Bologna then immediately struck in its first at bat.
With one out, Kevin Heijstek walked Francesco Fuzzi and gave up a single to Claudio Liverziani, which was followed by an outfield-error.
With runners on second and third base, Guillermo Rodríguez singled through the middle to bring in both runners and give the Italians a 2-0 lead.
The 37-year old Venezuelan also is a former pro in the team of Bologna.
He played professionally for 15 seasons, including twelve in the organisation of the San Francisco Giants.
Rodríguez also played in minor league-teams of the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.
In 2007, the catcher played in 39 Major League-games for the Giants and in 2009, he appeared in seven games for the Orioles in the big league.
With Rodríguez on second base, a flyout followed, then Heijstek ended the at bat by striking out Alex Sambucci.
In the remainder of the game, Heijstek pitched fine and held Bologna scoreless.
But the two runs in the first inning proved to be decisive, as Amsterdam was unable to produce basehits and runs in order to support their pitcher.
After giving up the two runs in the first inning, Heijstek retired the side in the second inning.
He then gave up singles to Francesco Fuzzi (with one out) and Guillermo Rodríguez (with two outs) in the third to put runners at the corners, but they stranded.
In the fourth, Heijstek gave up a lead-off single, but the runner was then eliminated at second base.
In the next at bat, Bologna stranded at runner at first base.
In the sixth, after two quick outs, Bologna got runners on first and second base after an error and hit batter, but they also were left behind.
Trailing 2-0, Amsterdam got a big scoring opportunity in the second inning when it got the bases loaded with no outs, but scored only one run.
Bas Nooij led off with a walk, then Jesse Aussems and Rashid Gerard singled to load the bases.
A passed ball then accounted for the run.
With runners on second and third base, Linoy Croes flied out, then the bases were re-loaded when Roelie Henrique also walked.
Unfortunately, the inning ended when Michael Duursma grounded into a double play.
Fleming needed a lot of pitches in the first two innings and wasn't throwing that convincing, as he walked four batters and gave up two hits.
But the two early runs gave him the support he needed and he clearly grew inning by inning.
From the third inning on, he struckout six batters, walked only two more batters, gave up only one more basehit and held Amsterdam scoreless.
In the third, Kenny Berkenbosch walked with one out, but then was caught stealing.
In the fourth, Fleming retired the side, including two strikeouts.
In the fifth, he walked lead-off hitter Linoy Croes, but he also was caught stealing.
After a pop-fly, Fleming ended the inning by striking out Michael Duursma.
In the sixth, he struckout Nick Urbanus and Kenny Berkenbosch, then gave up his third basehit, a single by Remco Draijer, who then advanced when an outfield-error followed.
But Fleming ended the inning this time by striking out Bas Nooij.
In the top of the seventh, Amsterdam got another opportunity to equal the score.
Lead-off hitter Jesse Aussems reached on an error and was replaced by pinch-runner Jorin van Amstel.
Hereafter, Fleming was relieved by Justin Cicatello.
Van Amstel got into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Rashid Gerard and moved to third base when Linoy Croes flied out.
But then Cicatello ended the inning by striking out Roelie Henrique.
Heijstek kept on throwing well, as he retired the side in the seventh, including striking out Juan Carlos Infante and Francesco Fuzzi.
In the eighth, Amsterdam got on base again, but its first two runners were forced out on second base.
In the bottom of the eighth, Bologna appeared to add an insurance run.
With one out, Guillermo Rodríguez doubled, but Heijstek prevented an additional run when two flyouts followed.
In the top of the ninth inning, Nicholas Pugliese took over the pitching.
The 29-year old righthanded American-born Pugliese also has a professional background.
He pitched in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2008-2011, reaching Double-A.
Since 2011, he pitches for Bologna.
He sealed the win for the Italians in the ninth inning.
He began by striking out Bas Nooij, then also struckout his brother, pinch-hitter Koen Nooij.
The inning then ended when Rashid Gerard hit a comebacker to Pugliese, who then simply retired the batter at first base to end the game.
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Amsterdam Pirates ends up just short in final vs. Bologna
PARIS (France) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates ended up just short in the final against UnipolSai Bologna (Italy) on Sunday-afternoon in Stade Pershing in French capital Paris.
The team faced a quick 2-0 deficit in the first inning, managed to get one run back, but was held to only three basehits by the Italian pitching.
And so, Amsterdam ended up losing 2-1.
With the win, Bologna qualified for the best-of-three European Champions Cup-final later in the year.
In that series, the Italians will meet Curaçao Neptunus, which