(Story Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Kingdom Team opens Premier12 with win vs. Taiwan in good game
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands opened the Premier12 tonight (Monday, November 9) with a 7-4 win against host Chinese Taipei (number 4 on the world ranking list) in an exciting, eventfull game full of action, lasting almost four hours.
The Netherlands Team (which is listed on the fifth spot on the world ranking list of the WBSC) initially appeared to be leading comfortably with a 4-1 score in the second inning, but then was held scoreless hereafter.
Taiwan narrowed the deficit to only 4-3 in the sixth then failed to take the lead in the eighth inning.
Hereafter, the Orange rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth to take more distance to register a hard-won victory.
Yurendell de Caster was 3-for-5 with a homerun for the Netherlands, which lost two pitchers due to injuries.
Kalian Sams was 4-for-5 with two doubles.
Four games are scheduled for Tuesday, but the Netherlands then has the day off.
The Orange squad will play its next game on Wednesday against Cuba in Taichung, starting at 12:35 local time (5:35 AM Dutch time).
The game was played at Intercontinental Baseball Cup in Taichung, which is a familiar site for the Orange squad.
It was there, where the team reached the final of the Intercontinental Cup against Cuba in both 2006 and 2010.
The first time, Cuba won 6-3 in 11 innings, the second time, Cuba won 4-1.
(November 9)
Before the game, the inaugural edition of the Premier12 was officially opened with the six teams, who play the majority of their games in Taichung, on the field.
On behalf of the players, the oath was taken by Chih-Kang Kao, catcher of Chinese Taipei and on behalf of the officials, the oath was taken by American umpire Mark Winters.
Hereafter, WBSC-President Riccardo Fraccari was joined by Taiwanese Minister Se-Hwa Wu of Education, who then officially declared the tournament open.
Shortly before the start of the game Mr. Wu threw out the ceremonial first pitch with legendary slugger Sadaharu Oh in the batter's box.
The 75-year old Sadaharu Oh played for 22 seasons in the Japanese Major League for the wellknown Tokyo Yomiuri Giants.
In his impressive professional career, Oh hit 868 homeruns, which still is a world-record.
He also held the single-season record with 55, but that was broken in 2013 by Netherlands-outfielder Wladimir Balentien, who then recorded 60 homeruns.
The Netherlands Team was off to a good start.
Randolph Oduber (2nd pitch) and Yurendell de Caster (1st pitch) led off with singles off of Kuan-Yu Chen.
The 25-year old lefthander then faced Major League-veteran Andruw Jones, but he struckout looking.
The bases got loaded when Wladimir Balentien walked.
Hereafter, Curt Smith drove the ball into deep rightfield, where it was caught just in front of the fence, just missing a grand slam homerun.
And so, Smith ended up with a sacrifice fly that scored Oduber and gave the Netherlands an 1-0 lead.
A strikeout for Shawn Zarraga ended the inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Chinese Taipei came back immediately, as Dai-Kang Yang led off with a homerun off of Diegomar Markwell to tie the score with the ball jumping over the fence after hitting the yellow top-line.
The lefthander followed with a walk, but (after a flyout) was supported with an inning-ending double play.
...Yurendell de Caster...
...3-for-4, HR, Run, 2 RBI's...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the second inning, the Orange struck with a 3-run rally.
Kalian Sams led off with hit through the middle and ended up on second base.
While centerfielder Dai-Kang Yang overran the ball, it was ruled a double, instead of a single and an error.
Yang plays for the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japanese Major League (NPB).
After Sharlon Schoop struckout, Carlton Daal singled to put runners on first and third base.
The Netherlands then re-took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Randolph Oduber and added two more runs when Yurendell de Caster homered into rightfield, with the ball just barely flying over the fence there.
In the third inning, off of new pitcher Wei-Lun Pan, the Orange were productive again.
Lead-off hitter Curt Smith reached off with an error.
With one out, Kalian Sams then doubled down the leftfield-line just in front of the fence.
But two runners stranded on second and third base.
The bottom of the third inning featured a very rare double play.
With one out, Po-Jung Wang singled after the previous six batters had been retired in order.
Hereafter, Dai-Kang Yang lined the ball back to Markwell, hitting his left (pitching) arm.
The ball caroomed back into the air and was caught by second baseman Sharlon Schoop, who threw it to first baseman Andruw Jones to double up Wang.
And with that, Markwell got an assist, as it was an L1-4, 43- double play.
After the Dutch were retired in order in the top of the fourth inning, Taiwan did something back in the bottom half off of Markwell, who might be bothered by being hit on his left arm.
Yen-Wen Kuo led off with a single, then Chih-Sheng Lin also singled.
A brief interruption followed, as Netherlands Physical Therapist Rob Tamminga did a check-up on Markwell's left arm, but he stayed in the game.
But hereafter Hung-Yu Lin doubled to bring in a run and that was enough for Manager Hensley Meulens.
He brought in Tom Stuifbergen to relief Markwell with runners on second and third base and no outs.
The righthander did a great job.
He struckout the first two batters he faced, then a grounder ended the inning.
In the fifth, the Orange-runners were back on the base, but didn't score.
Wladimir Balentien led off with an infield-hit, but he was forced out with one out on a comeback-grounder by Shawn Zarraga.
Hereafter, Kalian Sams hit a another basehit to be 3-for-3 at that moment.
But a high pop-fly into centerfield ended the at bat.
...Tom Stuifbergen...
...injury...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fifth, the Netherlands again lost a pitcher due to an injury.
With one out and an 1-ball-0-strike count on batter Po-Jung Wang, Tom Stuifbergen delivered his next pitch.
But while landing his right leg, his ankle twisted and he fell down in pain.
Stuifbergen left the game and was able to walk off the field on his own strength, escorted by Head Trainer Rob Tamminga.
However, he was transported to a local hospital for X-ray photos.
Shairon Martis took over with a 2-0 count on Wang.
After completing the at bat on Wang (who walked, credited to Stuifbergen), Martis retired the next two batters.
In the top of the sixth, with one out, Randolph Oduber reached on an infield-hit, then Yurendell de Caster singled.
That led to a pitching change, as Wei-Lun Pan was relieved after having kept the Orange scoreless from the third inning on.
Yu-Hsun Chen took over and struckout Andruw Jones.
The inning ended when centerfielder Dai-Kang Yang made a great catch against the fence on a drive by Wladimir Balentien.
In the bottom of the sixth, Chinese Taipei narrowed the deficit to only 4-3 on another homerun with a story.
With one out, Hung-Yu Lin homered into rightfield, where the ball again ended up on top of the fence on the yellow-line before jumping back into the field.
Lin plays for the Lamigo Monkeys, with whom he won the Taiwanese championship-title last month in the Taiwan Series.
In the top of the eighth inning, hardthrowing closer Chia-Jen Lo became the fourth Taiwanese pitcher and he retired the side.
In the bottom of the eighth, Bayron Cornelisse took over the Dutch pitching.
He walked lead-off hitter Dai-Kang Yang, who then moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Yen-Wen Kuo.
Hereafter, Loek van Mil entered the game as new pitcher.
Moments later, it was catcher Shawn Zarraga, who was hit on hit head by a foul ball, but was able to continue.
Van Mil was greeted with a double into rightfield where Kalian Sams almost made a great catch.
He got the ball into his glove briefly, but it fell out when he ran into the wall.
Yang had to wait of course whether the ball was caught and could only move up to third base.
Moments later, Yang made a baserunning mistake and was eliminated in a rundown after a grounder to short.
Another grounder then closed the inning, ending a big scoring opportunity for Taiwan, leaving runners on second and third base.
In the top of the ninth inning, after Taiwan had been unsuccessful in their scoring opportunity in the previous at bat, the Orange added some insurance runs.
New pitcher Po-Yu Lin was greeted with a lead-off single by Andruw Jones.
He was replaced by pinch-runner Dwayne Kemp, who then moved to third base on a following double by Wladimir Balentien and scored on a single by Curt Smith.
Moments later, Balentien scored the next run on a sacrifice fly by Shawn Zarraga.
When Kalian Sams followed with a single, that led to a another pitching change.
Hereafter, Smith scored the next run on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Gianison Boekhoudt to lift the lead to 7-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Van Mil gave up a lead-off single to Kuo-Hui Kao, who moved on a wild pitch and groundout, then scored on a pinch-hit single by Chien-Ming Chang.
The latter also moved up to third base, but a groundout ended the long, almost 4-hour game.
The starting players, their replacements, positions and hitting in this game were:
1 - Randolph Oduber (CF, 2-for-4);
2 - Yurendell de Caster (3B, 3-for-5);
3 - Andruw Jones (1B, 1-for-4), replaced by Dwayne Kemp (PR, LF, 0-for-0);
4 - Wladimir Balentien (DH, 2-for-4);
5 - Curt Smith (LF, 1B, 1-for-4);
6 - Shawn Zarraga (C, 0-for-3);
7 - Kalian Sams (RF, 4-for-5);
8 - Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-4), replaced by Gianison Boekhoudt (PH, 0-for-0), replaced by Hainley Statia (2B, 0-for-0);
9 - Carlton Daal (SS, 1-for-5);
Pitchers - Diegomar Markwell, Tom Stuifbergen, Shairon Martis, Bayron Cornelisse, Loek van Mil
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