(Story Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Kingdom Team empty-handed vs. Canada; ends up 3rd in Pool A
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Sunday-evening (November 15) lost 3-1 vs. Canada in its fifth and final game of the preliminary round of the Premier12.
With that, Canada remained unbeaten and finishes in first place in Pool A.
The Orange finished in third place.
Also tonight, Cuba nipped Italy 2-1 to end up in a tie with the Netherlands.
But because of their win against the Orange, Cuba will finish in second place and the Kingdom Team in third, while Puerto Rico completes the top-4 in this group after winning earlier today in 12 innings vs. Chinese Taipei.
Manager Hensley Meulens didn't made any changes to his line-up and started with the same nine players as he did against Puerto Rico on Saturday.
And that meant that Curt Smith was back on first base and Hainley Statia back on second base.
Now that the team has reached the Quarter Finals, Andruw Jones got an additional day-off, getting some extra rest for his minor leg-injury.
The game followed a thriller between hosting country Chinese Taipei against Puerto Rico, which lasted almost five hours.
Puerto Rico won 7-4 in 12 innings on a walk-off, grand slam homerun by Aldo Mendez!
That game was watched by some 20,000 spectators!
An hour later, the Canada vs. Netherlands game went underway and only a few hundreds attended that match-up.
The only well-visited games are that of Taiwan and Japan.
But of course, that's the case in all tournaments, in all sports, in al countries, where the games of the hosting country are the most visited games.
The Netherlands began the event on Monday with a 7-4 win vs. Chinese Taipei, then lost 6-5 to Cuba on Wednesday, followed by a huge 16-1 win vs. Italy on Thursday.
On Saturday, the Orange won 11-7 vs. Puerto Rico.
The Orange team now meets the USA in the Quarter Final on Monday in Taoyuan, starting at 12:30 PM local time (5:30 AM Dutch time).
The Orange squad will be the visiting team in this game.
The USA won 3-2 in 10 innings vs. South Korea tonight after a disputable call in the top of the tenth inning.
(November 15)
Diegomar Markwell returned to the mound for the Kingdom Team this evening.
In the opener, the lefthander was hit on his pitching arm by a comeback line-drive that turned into a double play.
He initially continued pitching, but was replaced in the next inning.
Luckily, he sustained no big injury and so, he was back on the mound again today.
And he had a great start, retiring the first eight batters he faced.
In the first and second inning, Markwell retired the side.
With two outs in the third, Skyler Stromsmoe reached on an error by third baseman Yurendell de Caster, but Markwell then closed the at bat with his third strikeout.
He then retired the again in the fourth.
In the meantime, the Orange batters were held off base by Canadian righthander Chris Leroux.
He was the starting and winning pitcher in Canada's opener vs. Cuba, which was won with a 5-1 score.
...Diegor Markwell had a fine outing tonight...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Like Markwell, Leroux had a fine start.
Like Markwell, he faced the minimum of batters initially.
He hit lead-off hitter Randolph Oduber with a pitch in the first inning, but followed with a strikeout.
The inning ended with a double play, then Leroux retired the side in the second inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Netherlands had something going off of Leroux.
With two outs, Carlton Daal singled through the middle, accounting for the first basehit of the game.
Hereafter, Leroux hit Randolph Oduber for the second time, which put runners on first and second base.
But the inning ended when Chris Garia flied out.
In the fourth, Curt Smith doubled for the Orange with two outs.
But he stranded, as Leroux closed with his fourth strikeout of the game, eliminating Kalian Sams.
Before today, Sams was the best Dutch hitter with a .615 batting average.
By the way, after the games played on Saturday, the Kingdom Team led the tournament with a .385 batting average and led in runs scored (39) and basehits (57).
In the fifth, Rene Tosoni led off for Canada with a single, but he was caught stealing after a pick-off with one out.
A single by Kellin Deglan (his first of the tournament) followed, but next batter Tyson Gillies then lined out to rightfielder Kalian Sams to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, with two outs, Carlton Daal registered his second basehit, but he was forced out.
Canada then broke the scoreless tie in this pitching duel with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.
Markwell hit lead-off hitter Skyler Stromsmoe with a pitch, who then advanced on a sacrifice bunt.
Hereafter, a line drive by Pete Orr was caught by leftfielder Chris Garia.
To set up a force play, next batter Tyler O'Neill was walked intentionally.
That was unsuccessful, as Jordan Lennerton followed with a 2-run double down the rightfield-line to put Canada ahead, 2-0.
When Markwell walked next batter Rene Tosoni, he was relieved by Juan Carlos Sulbaran, who then closed the inning with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Orange got one run back.
Chris Garia led off with a single, then scored the first Netherlands-run on an one-out double by Wladimir Balentien.
But the latter then stranded, as Curt Smith flied out and Kalian Sams struckout for the third time tonight.
After Sulbaran retired the side in the top of the seventh, three Kingdom-batters also were retired in order.
That included Andruw Jones, who pinch-hit for Hainley Statia, but popped up.
Canada took some more distance in the top of the eighth inning when Sean Jamieson led off with a homerun.
Sulbaran retired the next three batters, but Canada now led with a 3-1 score.
Canada's Manager Ernie Whitt, who was a Major League-catcher for 15 years, went to the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Phillippe Aumont became the new pitcher, but his first delivery was hit through the middle for a lead-off single by Randolph Oduber, who then stole second base moments later while Chris Garia struckout.
Hereafter, Aumont hit Yurendell de Caster with a pitch, but the inning ended when Wladimir Balentien grounded into a double play.
In the top of the ninth, Mike Bolsenbroek became the third Dutch pitcher.
He began with two strikeouts, then hit catcher Kellin Deglan with a pitch, which resulted in a warning for both teams by the American Home Plate Umpire.
A flyout ended the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Canadian closer Dustin Molleken took over.
He struckout the side, including the fourth for Kalian Sams and third for Shawn Zarraga, to earn his third save of the tournament.
And with that, Canada remained unbeaten and finished in first place of Pool A.
The Kingdom Team ends in third place.
The starting players, their replacements, positions and hitting in this game were:
1 - Randolph Oduber (CF, 1-for-2);
2 - Chris Garia (LF, 1-for-4);
3 - Yurendell de Caster (3B, 0-for-3);
4 - Wladimir Balentien (DH, 1-for-4);
5 - Curt Smith (1B, 1-for-4);
6 - Kalian Sams (RF, 0-for-4);
7 - Shawn Zarraga (C, 0-for-4);
8 - Hainley Statia (2B, 0-for-2), replaced by Andruw Jones (PH, 0-for-1), replaced by Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-0);
9 - Carlton Daal (SS, 2-for-3);
Pitchers - Diegomar Markwell, Juan Carlos Sulbaran, Mike Bolsenbroek.
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