Berry van Driel was the starting pitcher for Neptunus.
Van Driel has pitched the majority of his career in relief, mostly as closer.
During last years Holland Series, he was successful in two starts against L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
He won both games and was named MVP of the championship series.
And so, Van Driel got a spot in the starting rotation in the opening series against HCAW.
And today, he made his first start in a regular season-game since April 15, 2007 when he started for ADO against Sparta-Feyenoord.
He also was the losing pitcher in that game, which back then also was the second game of the new season.
Four players from today's game also played in the 2007 game.
Adrian Anthony then also played for ADO, while Dwayne Kemp, Rien Vernooij and Shaldimar Daantji all played for Sparta-Feyenoord.
In today's game, they all played for Neptunus.
Last Thursday, Neptunus won big 12-2, but today failed to score enough runs.
It collected eleven basehits, including three by Gianison Boekhoudt and Urving Kemp.
But these hits simply were spread too much over the game and the team stranded twelve runners.
Neptunus also faced two pitchers who had a fine outing.
Giovanni Tensen started for HCAW and made his big league-debut.
The righthander struckout three batters and gave up six hits in 4 2/3 inning, then Gijs van Els took over and gave up five hits in the remainder of the game.
Van Driel was less successful on the mound.
The righthander struckout six batters, but also gave up nine hits and faced a 4-2 deficit when he left the mound.
After HCAW had left two runners in the top of the first inning, Neptunus struck with two runs in the home half off of Tensen.
Christian Diaz walked, then Raily Legito walked with one out.
An RBI-single by Gianison Boekhoudt followed, then the next run was scored when an error was made on a force play-grounder by Dwayne Kemp.
But Neptunus also stranded two runners.
HCAW started to turn the game its way in the top of the third inning by scoring three runs.
With two outs, Boyd Tuhumury (who made his big league-debut) singled and Emersson Paula walked, then Roy Seltenrijch followed with a runscoring double.
The double was followed by an outfield-error, which enabled Paula to score the tying run.
Hereafter, Jarreau Martina singled to give HCAW a 3-2 lead.
HCAW added another run in the fourth.
With one out, Jazon Allee struckout, but reached on a throwing error by catcher Boekhoudt.
He then advanced to third base on a single by Peter van Doesburg and scored on a force play-grounder by Boyd Tuhumury to make it 4-2.
In the fifth inning, HCAW got the opportunity to add more runs.
Roy Seltenrijch led off with a double and Jarreau Martina singled.
After Van Driel struckout the next batter, he was relieved by Kenny Van Den Branden.
The Belgian hurler did a great job.
Seltenrijch was eliminated at the plate and HCAW left the bases loaded in this inning.
Van Den Branden struckout eight batters and held HCAW hitless and scoreless in the remainder of the game.
But Neptunus was still trailing.
In the bottom of the fifth, Neptunus narrowed the deficit to 4-3.
Diaz led off with a single and went on to score on a single by Boekhoudt, which led to a pitching change.
Hereafter, Neptunus again left two runners.
The Rotterdam-squad also stranded two runners in the sixth and seventh inning (including three in scoring posittion).
Neptunus, which was now running out of innings, stranded another runner on third base in the eighth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Boekhoudt singled with one out, moved to second base, but stranded when Gijs van Els ended the game by striking out Rien Vernooij.
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HCAW stunts with win at Neptunus
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
HCAW upset reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus on Saturday (April 18) by winning 4-3.
HCAW was outhit 11-9 and trailed 2-0 after the first inning, but then scored three runs in the third inning en route to the win.