(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Good game Team Europe ends in big loss
Nederlands
 DOULIU CITY (Taiwan) -
Team Europe initially played a very good game against the Chinese Taipei National Training Team on Monday-evening (December 14), but ended up losing 16-2.
Tonight's game in the Asia Winter Baseball League was played in Douliu City.
Starting pitcher Lars Huijer took a Perfect Game into the fifth inning, then took a No-Hitter into the sixth inning.
After seven innings, the score was tied at 1-1 and Team Europe was outhitting the Taiwanese squad.
But then two disastrous at bats followed in which the opponent scored 15 runs!
The loss came after the team also had played some fine games and were close to two victories.
On Friday, Europe failed to hold a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning, resulting in a tie, and on Sunday, the European squad led 5-1 in the second inning, but then lost.
In the afternoon, the KBO Team (South Korea) moved into first place by winning 11-10 vs. the Taiwan Beer CPBL Team.
Team Europe has two games left on its schedule.
The game that rained out a few days ago, will not be re-reschuled.
Team Europe plays its next game on Tuesday (December 15), starting at 12 PM local time (5 AM Dutch time).
The squad then meets the Japanese NPB Team.
(December 14)
Initially, Team Europe appeared to be off to a good start tonight.
Starting pitcher Lars Huijer retired the side in the top of the first inning.
Catcher Alberto Mineo was able to continue playing after being hit on his right knee by a ball that jumped up from the ground on the third delivery by Huijer.
And in the bottom half of the first inning, the first two batters reached base.
Freddy Noguera led off with a single and Sebastiano Poma followed with another one.
But hereafter, Kevin Weijgertse struckout and Mineo grounded into a double play.
Huijer also did very will in the next two at bats.
The former pro also retired the side in the second and third inning, then was supported with a run in the third at bat.
After the Europeans also were retired in order in its second at bat, they opened the score in the next one.
Maik Ehmcke led off with an infield-hit, which was followed by a throwing error that put the German in scoring position.
He then moved on a grounder by Daniel Fernandes.
A walk followed for Freddy Noguera, who was then forced out on a grounder Sebastiano Poma, but that enabled Ehmcke to score the first run.
Huijer continued his dominance in the fourth inning when he retired three batters in a row for the fourth time.
Team Europe stranded a runner in its fourth.
All games are taking at least 3 1/2 hours to complete.
But tonight, the first four innings went very quick.
And so, within the hour, the fifth inning started.
But the game was far from over!
In the top of the fifth inning, Huijer retired the first two batters.
The righthander now had retired the first 14 batters in a row!
One of his deliveries to next batter Wei-Han Hung then ended in the ground, but the Home Plate Umpire stated that it hit the leg of the batter.
He checked with the 3B Umpire, then confirmed the call and so Huijer's Perfect Game ended with a disputable hit batter.
But Huijer then closed the inning with a strikeout to keep his No-Hitter intact!
In the bottom of the fifth, Team Europe got close to its second run.
Maik Ehmcke led off with a walk.
He then stole second base and advanced on a following throwing error.
But he would strand on third base, as he was unable to score on following grounders.
And so, the first five innings of the game had now been played in only one hour and 10 minutes.
The remainder of the game, the last four innings, would take almost 2 1/2 hours!
Huijer returned to the mound in the sixth inning after a more than 5-minute break after completion of the fifth inning in which the dirt was swept again and the foul-lines and batter's box were renewed.
Whether or not this breaks the rhythm of a pitcher remains the question.
Fact is that the first pitch that Huijer threw to Yu-Chieh Kao ended in a single into leftfield that broke the No-Hitter.
Tung-Hua Yuah followed with another basehit that put runners on first and third base.
And that appeared to be the beginning of a rally, as next batter Yu-Ning Tsao also single to bring in Kao and make it a 1-1 score.
But hereafter, a foul-fly and adouble play ended the inning, so the damage was limited to only one run after the three lead-off singles.
In the seventh, Leonel Cespedes took over the European pitching and retired the side.
In the bottom of the seventh, Team Europe left a runner in scoring position after a Taiwanese pitching change.
Lead-off hitter Mattia Mercuri was hit by a pitch, but was forced out on a grounder by Maik Ehmcke.
With two outs, the German moved to third base on a single by Freddy Noguera, which led to another pitching change.
Ehmcke had reached third base for the third time tonight, but he stranded for the second time.
And so, after seven innings were played, the score was still 1-1, while Team Europe was outhitting the Taiwanese opponent 4-3.
However, the final two innings were dramatic for the European squad, as it gave up 15 runs!
In the top of the eighth inning, two pitchers gave up four runs.
Milvio Andreozzi began the inning and was greeted with a lead-off single.
With two outs and a runner on second base, an intentional walk was issued to set up a force play.
Matz Schutte then took over the European pitching, but ran into problems.
He faced five batters, who all reached base, two on a walk, three on a single.
That led to four runs and a 5-1 lead for the Taiwanese squad.
With runners on first and second base, Schutte walked the first batter he faced, which loaded the bases.
Hereafter, Tai-Chun Yang, who was 0-for-3 in his previous at bats, singled to bring in two runs and put his team ahead, 3-1.
Afterwards, Yang was named MVP of this game.
Two more runscoring singles and a walk followed.
With the bases loaded, Kruno Gojkovic took over for Schutte and his first delivery ended in a force out that ended the at bat.
In the eighth European inning, Chris Howard doubled with two outs and Premek Chroust walked, but they were left behind.
| Standings |
| # | Team | G | W | L | T |
| 1 | KBO Team | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| 2 | NPB Team | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| | Chinese Taipei Training Team | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | Taiwan Beer CPBL Team | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | Team Europe | 13 | 1 | 9 | 3 |
And then the ninth inning started.
The top of the ninth inning lasted 36 minutes and the Taiwanese batters collected 10 basehits and scored 11 runs!
In the ninth inning, the Home Plate Umpire also played a major role.
In the top of the ninth, Gojkovic returned to the mound.
The Croatian gave up a double and a single, walked a batter, then gave up another single, followed by a sacrifice fly, resulting in two runs.
German righthander Daniel Thieben then took over, but also ran into problems.
He faced eight batters and seven of them reached base and all seven would eventually score.
Thieben walked two batters and gave up five hits.
With the Taiwanese team now leading 15-1, with runners on first and third base and two outs, no other pitchers were used.
Rightfielder Daniel Fernandes took the mound and he gave up two more singles that led to the eleventh run in this inning.
With a 16-1 lead for the Taiwanese team and again runners on first and third base, the first delivery by Fernandes on the next batter was low inside toward his legs.
This appeared to be just a ball out of control by someone, who is no pitcher and by no means intentional.
For some reason, the Home Plate Umpire saw it differently, walked towards Fernandes and gave him a warning.
Of course, the European coaching argued, but eventually the game continued.
Fernandes struckout the batter to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Urving Kemp led off with a single off of new pitcher Teng-Yo Huang.
Fernandes was the next batter and got the count to 3-balls-2-strikes.
Hereafter, Huangs's next delivery was low inside.
While the umpires have a consistent low strike zone, this ball appeared to be too low and inside, but nevertheless, the Home Plate Umpire called strike three on Fernandes, who he had warned moments earlier.
After next batter Freddy Noguera flied out, Huang threw a ball high inside to next batter Sebastiano Poma.
This time, the Home Plate Umpire didn't take any action towards the pitcher.
Of course, that led to reactions from the European dug-out and eventually an ejection, as the umpire had a fiery discussion with Manager Gilberto Gerali and Pitching Coach Renny Duarte.
Moments later, Poma single to bring in Kemp, but a foul-fly ended the inning and the game.
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