(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
  Arribas stars in Minor League Play-Offs; Profar, Polonius in Finals
Nederlands
    GRANVILLE, West Virginia / HICKORY, North Carolina / SAN JOSE, California / COLUMBUS, Ohio (USA) -
Danny Arribas is playing a major role for West Virginia Black Bears, with whom he has began the Championship Final of the New York-Pennsylvania League (Single-A Short Season).
In the opener, former Netherlands Team-player Arribas delivered a walk-off single in the eleventh inning to give his team the win and the lead.
Juremi Profar is playing in the Final of the South Atlantic League (Single-A), while John Polonius made his comeback after an injury, playing in the Division Final of the California League (Single-A Advanced).
For Sharlon Schoop, the season ended on Monday (September 14) when his team was eliminated in the Play-Offs of the International League (Triple-A).
Danny Arribas and the West Virginia Black Bears (Pittsburgh Pirates) have reached the Championship Final of the New York-Penn League (Single-A Short Season).
The Black Bears won its best-of-three Play-Off vs. Williamsport Crosscutters (Philadelphia Phillies), 2-1.
...Danny Arribas during the 2012 European...
...Championship in Rotterdam (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the opener, Danny Arribas had batted in both runs in a 2-1 victory, then also batted in the lone run for his team in a 3-1 loss in Game Two on Friday.
On Sunday, at Williamsport, the Black Bears shutout the Crosscutters 4-0 to win the series and advance to the final.
After five scoreless innings, West Virginia opened the score in the sixth, then added three runs in the eighth at bat.
This time, Arribas was 0-for-2, but walked twice.
On Monday (September 14), the Black Bears opened the best-of-three Championship Final with a 4-3 win in 11 innings vs. Staten Island Yankees (New York Yankees).
And this time, Arribas played a major role again.
The Black Bears trailed 1-0 after two innings, but then scored three runs with two outs in the third inning.
With one out, Christian Kelley and Ty Moore singled, then both got in scoring position on a grounder by Arribas.
The bases then got loaded when Logan Hill was hit by a pitch.
Hereafter, the bases were cleared when Carlos Muñoz hit a triple.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Yankees scored twice to come alongside.
As the score was still tied after nine, the game went into extra innings.
The Black Bears decided the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning.
Mitchell Tolman led off with a single and advanced on a following error.
Next, Christian Kelley walked and the two runners moved on a sacrifice bunt by Ty Moore.
With runners on second and third base, no force play was set up via an intentional walk, but a pitching change followed.
New pitcher Michael Schaub took over and he faced Danny Arribas, who delivered a walk-off, runscoring single to give the Black Bears a 4-3 victory!
Juremi Profar and Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers) also qualified for the Championship Final of the South Atlantic League (Single-A).
The Crawdads won the best-of-three Northern Division Play-Off vs. West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh Pirates), 2-1.
After losing the opener, the Crawdads won the second game with a 6-3 score and Profar went 1-for-2, walked twice and scored two runs.
On Saturday, Hickory won the third game, scoring only one run, which was registered in the fourth inning.
Profar, who played at third base, was 0-for-2 and walked once.
On Monday, playing at home, Hickory opened the best-of-five final with a 7-2 score vs. Asheville Tourists (Colorado Rockies), which had won its series with Savannah Sand Gnats (New York Mets), 2-1.
Profar was the third baseman again for the Crawdads and went 1-for-3 and also walked once.
As reported earlier, San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants) won its best-of-three Round One Play-off vs. Stockton Ports (Oakland A's), 2-1, in the North Division of the California League (Single-A Advanced).
The team won the opener 7-2, lost the next game 4-2, but then won 5-3 on Friday.
In the best-of-five North Division Final, San Jose now trails 2-1 vs. Visalia Rawhide (Arizona Diamondbacks.
Curaçao-born John Polonius is playing for San Jose, but was injured recently.
He came off the disabled list late August and didn't play in the first round.
But he now has seen some action in the Division Final.
He didn't play in the opener, which was played on Saturday and was lost 6-5.
In the second game on Sunday, the Giants lost 1-0, but in this game, Polonius made his comeback.
In the top of the ninth inning, with two outs, catcher Aramis Garcia singled for the Giants and hereafter, Polonius was inserted as pinch-runner, but he stranded on first base when a strikeout ended the game.
On Monday (September 14), playing at home, San Jose won Game Three 5-4, scoring the winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
This time, Polonius didn't play.
For Sharlon Schoop and the Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles, the season ended on Monday, as the team lost its best-of-five Play-Offs of the International League (Triple-A), 3-2, to the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians).
...Sharlon Schoop during the 2014 European...
...Championship in the Czech Republic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
After losing the opener 5-2, game two was cancelled due to rain in the second inning.
The game was re-scheduled for Friday and the Tides went on to win 6-1.
In that game, Schoop was 1-for-3 with a double, walked once and scored a run.
The next three games were played at Columbus.
On Saturday, Columbus won Game Three, 6-2, but Schoop acccounted for both Norfolk-runs.
Trailing 6-0, Norfolk scored twice in the top of the eighth inning.
With one out, David Lough singled and with two outs, Michael Almanzar also singled.
Hereafter, Sharlon Schoop doubled to bring in both runners.
After a pitching change, a walk and single loaded the bases, but the three runners stranded.
Schoop was 2-for-4.
On Sunday, in Game Four, Schoop was 1-for-4 with a double and scored twice.
Norfolk won 6-5 to even the series and force a fifth game.
Trailing 4-1, Schoop led off the fifth for Norfolk with a double, then moved to third on a single by Henry Urrutia and a walk for Rey Navarro loaded the bases.
Schoop then scored on a sacrifice fly by Christian Walker.
In the top of the seventh, Norfolk trailed 5-2.
This time, Schoop reached on an error, then scored on an one-out homerun by Navarro.
In the top of the ninth, Norfolk scored twice to win the game.
On Monday, Columbus won 5-0 to reach the Championschip Final.
Schoop was 0-for-3.
(September 15)
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