Kinheim vs. Vaessen Pioniers
It was another cold evening with a windchill of 3,9 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit) in the Amsterdam/Haarlem-area and 4,9 (40,8 F) in the Rotterdam/Dordrecht-area.
But despite that, and some rain earlier in the day and on previous days, all games could be played as scheduled.
In the first three innings, only two batters of Pioniers reached base.
Austin Weymouth singled with two outs in the first, but was left behind.
Kinheim-starter Glenn Wassink struckout out the side in the second inning, but gave up a lead-off single to Mark Smit in the third.
But he was caught stealing.
Pioniers then opened the score in the fourth inning.
Mervin Gario, who last season played for Kinheim, led off with a single and stole second base.
He then advanced on a grounder by Austin Weymouth and scored on a grounder by Quintin De Cuba.
Pioniers rallied for three runs in the sixth.
With one out, Zerzinho Croes and Mervin Gario hit back-to-back doubles to produce a run.
Walks for Austin Weymouth and Quintin De Cuba then loaded the bases and that was followed by a 2-run double by Kevin Dirksen to lift the lead to 4-0.
...Kevin Dirksen...
...2-run double...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
With that, Pioniers was comfortably leading 4-0, as Kinheim got into scoring position only three times in the eight innings Lars Huijer pitched for the Hoofddorp-squad.
With two outs in the fifth, the righthander walked Oliver van der Wijst Severino, then gave up a single to Julio Hernandez (his first in the Dutch big league), but they stranded.
In the third, Jasper Keijzer reached on an error with one out and moved on a grounder, but also was left behind.
The next time Kinheim got into scoring position was in the seventh inning.
Dudley Leonora then led off with a single, moved on sacrifice bunt and a passed ball to become the first Kinheim-runner on third base, but there he stranded.
In the top of the eighth, inning, Pioniers failed to take more distance off of new pitcher Scott Ronnenbergh, who was the announced starting pitcher for Saturday's game.
However, he returned to the bullpen, as Kinheim received word earlier in the day that Venezuelan righthander Luis Figuera Roman was cleared to play and so, he will make his first start on Saturday.
With one out, Ronnenbergh gave up singles to Quintin De Cuba and Kevin Dirksen, but followed with a strikeout.
The bases got loaded when Brian Raap walked, but the three runners were left behind when the lefthander closed with another strikeout.
In the top of the ninth, Pioniers left a runner on third base, but nothing appeared to go wrong.
But that quickly changed in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Jonatan Isenia took over the pitching from Huijer.
The righthander walked lead-off hitter Bryan Engelhardt, who then stole second base.
Hereafter, Isenia gave up back-to-back doubles to Dudley Leonora and Oliver van der Wijst Severino that narrowed the deficit to 4-2.
Isenia was replaced by Sedley Karel, who retired the next two batters.
He then walked Jochem Koedijk, then gave up a runscoring single to Jasper Keijzer, that made it only 4-3.
But with runners on first and second base, Karel closed with a strikeout to earn his third save of the season.
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Pioniers nips Kinheim in Haarlem
HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Vaessen Pioniers led 4-0 when the bottom of the ninth inning began on Thursday-evening (April 28) against Kinheim.
The home team then rallied for three runs, but Pioniers escaped and nipped Kinheim 4-3.