(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos: Henk Seppen)
   Kalian Sams & Capitales eliminated in Play-Offs
Nederlands
  LITTLE FALLS, New Jersey (USA) / QUÉBEC CITY, Québec (Canada) -
Kalian Sams and his team Capitales de Québec are eliminated in the best-of-five Play-Off in the Independent Canadian-American Association.
On Tuesday (September, 15), the team lost Game 5 vs. New Jersey Jackals with a 5-4 score and that ended the season for the Capitales.
The Jackals now will play in the Championship Final of the Can-Am League vs. Trois-Rivières Aigles, which won its best-of-five series vs. Rockland Boulders on Sunday.
Trois-Rivières also needed five games to reach the final.
Now that Kalian Sams is eliminated, he becomes available to join Corendon Kinheim for the Holland Series.
Kinheim trails 2-0 vs. Curaçao Neptunus in the best-of-seven series for the Dutch championship-title.
Game Three is scheduled for Thursday-evening and Sams might be in Haarlem to join the team where he also played in five games, before leaving for Canada.
...Alexei Bell playing for Cuba in the...
...2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Sams and the Capitales began the Play-Offs on Wednesday (September 9) with a 4-3 loss at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls, New Jersey.
The Canadian squad took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Sams hit a 2-run homerun.
However, the Jackals came alongside in the second inning and took a 3-2 lead in the next at bat.
The home team added another run in the fifth, while the Capitales only scored one more run in the ninth.
Sams was 1-for-4 in this game.
The next day, the second game rained out, but was then played on Friday.
This time, Québec nipped New Jersey, 4-3 to even the series.
Sams accounted again for the first run.
In the top of the first at bat, Tyler Young led off with a single and he advanced on an errant pick-off.
Next, Cuban Yuniesky Gurriel walked.
With one out, a force out grounder by Sams gave the Capitales an 1-0 lead.
After six innings, the Capitales trailed 2-1, but came alongside in the seventh.
However, New Jersey re-took the lead in the bottom of the seventh.
In the eighth, the Capitales made it a 3-3 score.
With one out, Sams walked with one out and a runner on first base.
A force out at third base followed, but the bases got loaded when another walk followed.
Sams then scored the tying run when Josue Peley also walked after a pitching change.
In the ninth, four walks contributed to the winning run.
With one out, Tyler Young and Yuniesky Gurriel walked.
With two outs, Kalian Sams and Alexei Bell also walked to bring in the run.
Bell participated with the Cuban National Team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Gurriel is the brother of Yulieski Gurriel, who also is a wellknown player of the Cuban National Team.
They are the sons of another famous Cuban slugger, Lourdes Gurriel.
After traveling from New Jersey to Canada after the second game, the third game was played on Saturday at Le Stade Municipal in Québec City.
There, the Capitales took a 2-1 lead by winning 11-5.
Sams was 3-for-5 and scored twice.
Trailing 3-0, Québec scored twice in the fourth inning, thanks to a 2-run homerun by Cuban Alexei Bell.
...Kalian Sams celebrates hitting a homerun for the Dutch Team...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Québec rallied for six runs.
Jean-Luc Blaquiere led off with a walk and moved on sac-bunt, then scored the tying run on a triple by Tyler Young.
With two outs, the latter scored the go-ahead run on a single by Jonathan Malo.
Hereafter, Kalian Sams doubled and the bases got loaded when Alexei Bell walked.
Next, Joash Brodin hit a grand slam homerun to give the Capitales an 8-3 lead.
On Sunday, the Jackals won 5-2.
Sams was 2-for-3 in this game and walked twice.
The Jackals scored four runs in the third inning, then Québec scored two in its third at bat.
With one out, Sams walked, but was forced out on a grounder by Alexei Bell, who then scored when Joash Brodin followed with a homerun.
But that was to be all for the Capitales.
After another rainout on Monday, the teams met again on Tuesday in the fifth game.
The Jackals won 5-4 to move on to the Championship Final.
Sams was 1-for-4 in this game.
Trailing 1-0, the Capitales took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on runscoring singles by Yuniesky Gurriel and Joash Brodin.
But herefater, the Jackals scored two runs in the fourth and fifth inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Québec narrowed the deficit to 5-4 by scoring two runs in the sixth.
In the seventh inning, the Capitales got their last scoring opportunity.
With runners on first and second base and one out, Sams was the batter, but he grounded into a double play to end the inning.
(September 16)
|
