(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Kinheim, Neptunus win; Pirates & Pioniers play tie
Nederlands
     HAARLEM / OOSTERHOUT / AMSTERDAM / BUSSUM / DORRDRECHT (Neth.) -
Today, on another cold afternoon, the eight big league-teams played their next game in this years exhibition to prepare for the upcoming regular season, which opens on Thursday-evening, April 16.
And that resulted in the first exhibition win for Corendon Kinheim, a tie between L&D Amsterdam Pirates and Vaessen Pioniers, a convincing win by Curaçao Neptunus, a come-from-behind victory by UVV and the fourth consecutive win by Mampaey The Hawks, the current leader in the exhibition season.
This weekend, The Hawks played two games against Belgian reigning champion Borgerhout Squirrels, who a week ago met UVV.
Next weekend, the Belgian squad again plays two games against a Dutch opponent, meeting Twins, which plays in the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse').
There also will be another international match-up coming weekend involving a big league-team, as vice-champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates hosts Solingen Alligators from Germany on Saturday and Sunday on its home site in Amsterdam.
HCAW initially had two games scheduled vs. Mainz Athletics, but that games were cancelled as Mainz was unable to come to Bussum.
DSS vs. Corendon Kinheim
At Haarlem, Corendon Kinheim, which opened its exhibition season on Saturday with a 4-1 loss against neighbour DSS, today handed their opponent a 7-1 loss.
As was the case on Saturday, both coaches has assigned their pitchers to throw a limited amounts of balls and innings, due to the cold weather and the early date in the exhibition season.
And so, Kinheim had pitching available for five innings, while DSS-pitching threw six innings.
Tom Stuifbergen started for Kinheim and threw the first two innings.
Last Wednesday, Stuifbergen was the closer in the victory of Team Europe vs. Samurai Japan in Tokyo in Game 2 of the Global Baseball Match.
Today, he started and was the winning pitcher.
Stuifbergen was followed by Glenn Wassink, who threw the next two innings, then lefthander Scott Ronnenbergh (who last season pitched for Pioniers) threw the fifth and final defensive inning for Kinheim.
Kevin Bosch started for DSS.
No other details of this game are available.
Coming weekend, Kinheim plays two games vs. Vaessen Pioniers, while DSS meets HCAW on Sunday after having played against its Rookie League-team the day before.
L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. Vaessen Pioniers
At Amsterdam, L&D Amsterdam Pirates opened on Saturday with a 4-0 win at Vaessen Pioniers in a 7-inning game.
Today, both teams played another 7-inning game.
Pioniers initially led 3-0, but Amsterdam came alongside in the seventh inning, ending the game in a 3-3 tie.
Kevin Heijstek started for Amsterdam.
Heijstek also had traveled with Team Europe to Japan for the 2-game series against Samurai Japan, but didn't pitch.
This afternoon, Heijstek threw the first three innings, then was relieved by Daan Hendrix, who threw the next two innings.
Dennis Burgersdijk threw the final two innings, making his debut in an Amsterdam-uniform.
Initially, Burgerswijk was to pitch this season for ADO Lakers, but after the withdrawal of that team, he decided to transfer to Amsterdam Pirates.
Pioniers took an early 3-0 lead, including scoring a run on a single by Mark-Jan Moorman and a passed ball.
Pioniers-starter Elton Koeiman had a good outing and gave up four hits in the four innings he pitched.
And so, the veteran righthander was in line to become the winning pitcher.
Former pro Swen Huijer then pitched the fifth inning and also held Amsterdam scoreless, so he was credited with a Hold.
In the sixth inning, Bayron Cornelisse took over in a save-situation, but in he end was credited with a Blown Save, as he gave up three runs, enabling Amsterdam to tie the score.
After Amsterdam had scored once in the sixth inning, the home team added two runs in the seventh inning on a double by Kenny Berkenbosch to make it a 3-3 tie.
Coming weekend, Amsterdam plays two games vs. Solingen Alligators from Germany, while Pioniers meets .
Twins vs. Curaçao Neptunus
At Oosterhout, Curaçao Neptunus today registered a big 9-1 score vs. Twins after having won only 4-1 on Saturday.
Matthew Latta started for Twins and threw four fine innings.
The next four innings for the team from the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse') were pitched by two rookies.
First, Koen Blom, who comes from Bixie Baseball Academy, threw three innings, then 15-year old Jerzy van Gool pitched the eighth inning.
The latter comes from the youth program of Twins.
Canadian Branden Kuzyk then threw the ninth inning for the home team.
Kenny Van Den Branden started for Neptunus.
Last year, the Belgian hurler threw for UVV, but came to Rotterdam after completion of the season.
Neptunus increased its lead off of the two rookies in the middle innings.
No other details are available of this game.
Coming weekend, Neptunus plays two games against UVV.
Twins will play two games against Borgerhout Squirrels from Belgium.
UVV vs. HCAW
At Bussum, HCAW and UVV played a game which was very similar like yesterday's match-up.
On Saturday, HCAW led, trailed, but won in the eighth inning.
Today, UVV led 3-1 after six innings, then trailed in the seventh at bat.
UVV re-took the lead in the eighth, faced a deficit again after the home of the ninth, but then scored twice to win 7-6.
Detailed recap of the UVV vs. HCAW game
Mampaey The Hawks vs. Borgerhout Squirrels
At Dordrecht, Mampaey The Hawks won its fourth consecutive exhibition game to remain unbeaten.
The team from Dordrecht won 14-4 vs. Belgian champion Borgerhout Squirrels.
Detailed recap of the Hawks vs. Borgerhout game
(March 15)
Complete Schedule Exhibition Season
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