Neptunus took a very quick 2-0 lead, expanded it to 7-0 in the second inning and appeared to be en route to a big, mercy-rule victory.
From the third inning on, the Rotterdam-squad was silenced, then saw its lead being narrowed to only 7-5, but added four unearned runs in the ninth to win comfortably after all.
Kinheim-starter Nick Veltkamp began well by striking out lead-off hitter Dwayne Kemp.
Hereafter, the lefthander gave up a single to Benjamin Dille, then a homerun to veteran Raily Legito.
That gave Neptunus a quick 2-0 lead and set the tone for tonight.
Veltkamp followed by striking out Gianison Boekhoudt, gave up a double to Christian Diaz, but then Rien Vernooij grounded out to end the inning.
In its first at bat, Kinheim stranded two runners, then Neptunus rallied for five runs in the top of the second inning to take an apparent comfortable 7-0 lead.
The first five batters would reach base safely.
Lead-off hitter Gyenuar Lopez was ignored a time-out and got a strike called, then hit the next pitch back to Veltkamp, who touched the ball with his arm, diverting it towards short, resulting in an infield-hit.
Next, Shaldimar Daantji walked, then Urving Kemp and Dwayne Kemp followed with runscoring singles.
A bunt-single by Benjamin Dille loaded the bases.
Raily Legito followed with a sacrifice fly, then Gianison Boekhoudt and Christian Diaz added the next runscoring singles.
That increased the lead to 7-0 and led to the departure of Veltkamp, who was credited with nine hits and seven runs.
David Bergman took over and ended the inning.
From that point on, nothing much happened.
Neptunus failed to add more runs towards a mercy-rule lead and got into scoring position only once off of Bergman.
In the fifth, Scott Ronnenbergh took over.
He got two quick outs, then walked Dwayne Kemp, who ended up on third base when short stop Dudley Leonora made an error was made on a force play-grounder, but then was left behind.
In the top of the sixth, Ronnenbergh walked Boekhoudt, then gave up a single to Diaz, but three outs followed.
Diegomar Markwell started for Neptunus and didn't encounter big problems in the first five innings.
In the first, with one out, he gave up a single to Mervin Gario, then walked Bryan Engelhardt, but they stranded.
After retiring the side in the second, the lefthander gave up a 2-out double to Gario in the third, but closed by striking out Engelhardt.
In the fourth, Kalian Sams led off for Kinheim, reached on an error by short stop Dwayne Kemp, but was left behind.
And in the fifth, with two outs, Kevin Moesquit singled and Gario walked, but then Engelhardt struckout again.
But then the game started to slow somewhat and Kinheim came back into the game with a 5-run rally in the bottom of the sixth.
Three of these runs were unearned, as Neptunus made two errors.
First, Kalian Sams led off with a homerun.
Last Tuesday, Sams and his team Capitales de Québec were eliminated in the Play-Offs of the Can-Am League.
And so, he was back in Haarlem from somewhat over a day and made his comeback in the Kinheim-squad.
Next, Dashenko Ricardo reached when third baseman Raily Legito made an error.
Jeffrey Arends then walked and Phil Ortez followed with an RBI-single, as did next batter Dudley Leonora.
The bases then got loaded when Markwell made a throwing error towards third base attempting to force out Ortez on a grounder by Jochem Koedijk.
With still no outs, the Neptunus-defense made an important double play on a grounder by Kevin Moesquit.
That led to a run, but Neptunus now had two outs.
However, Mervin Gario added another runscoring single that narrowed the deficit to 7-5.
Markwell then closed the inning by striking out Engelhardt for the third time, but wasn't happy with what just had happened.
Neptunus was retired in order in both the seventh and eighth inning, then saw Kinheim threathen again in the eighth.
Berry van Driel relieved Markwell in the seventh and retired the side.
Kevin Kelly then took over in the eighth.
He walked Phil Ortez, then gave up a single to Dudley Leonora and saw the two get into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Jochem Koedijk.
Kelly was replaced by Loek van Mil and then a possible crucial out followed.
With Leonora on second and Ortez on third base, Kevin Moesquit grounded towards third baseman Raily Legito.
There, Ortez made a baserunning mistake and was tagged out.
Instead of keeping runners on second and third or a possible basesloaded situation, Kinheim now had runners on first and second with two outs.
The inning ended when a line drive by Mervin Gario was caught by first baseman Rien Vernooij.
Neptunus then was given the opportunity to expand its lead, as the Kinheim-defense commited three errors in the top of the ninth, resulting in four runs off of new pitcher Arshwin Asjes.
Rien Vernooij led off with a walk, then was safe when Asjes made a throwing error on a force play-grounder by Gyenuar Lopez.
A sacrifice bunt by Shaldimar Daantji then also ended in an error, gave Neptunus a run and led to runners on first and third base.
Urving Kemp followed with a sacrifice fly that brought in Lopez and an error by third baseman Gario on a grounder by Dwayne Kemp led to runners again on first and third base.
A wild pitch and a single by Benjamin Dille gave Neptunus two additional runs and lifted the lead to 11-5, before the inning finally ended.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kinheim managed to score one more run.
Bryan Engelhardt led off with a double, then Sams struckout, but Ricardo singled.
After Van Mil also struckout Arends, he gave up a runscoring single to Ortez that made it an 11-6 score, but a force out then ended the game.
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Neptunus one win away from championship title
HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus won 11-6 on Friday-evening (September 18) to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Holland Series against Corendon Kinheim.
With that, the Rotterdam-squad is now one win shy of extending its Dutch championship-title.
They can win the championship on Saturday-afternoon in Game Four, which starts at 2 PM in Haarlem.