Voith Heidenheim Heideköpfe vs. Curaçao Neptunus
Initially, it appeared that Neptunus was on its way to a mercy-rule victory, as it scored eight runs in the first three innings, while giving up only one.
However, the run-production stopped, the Neptunian pitching ran into problems and Heidenheim came alongside to make it an entire new game in the fifth inning.
In the top of the first inning, Neptunus scored three runs off of starter Wesley Römer.
With one out, he gave up a single to Benjam Dille, then hit next batter Raily Legito with a pitch.
Gianison Boekhoudt followed with a homerun and with that, the tone appeared to be set.
Two (unearned) runs were added in the second inning.
With two outs, Shaldimar Daantji reached on an error, then scored on a following double by Dwayne Kemp.
Hereafter, Benjamin Dille added a runscoring single to make it a 5-0 score.
In the bottom of the second inning, Heidenheim got one run back off of starter Orlando Yntema.
With two outs, he gave up a single to Johannes Krumm, who then scored when next batter Philipp Howard tripled.
But Yntema then closed with a strikeout.
Neptunus scored three more runs in the top of the third inning off of new pitcher Patrick Seyfried.
Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a single, then Christian Diaz doubled.
With one out, it was Rien Vernooij, who homered to lift the lead to 8-1.
But from the bottom of the third inning on, the game turned more or less the way of Heidenheim.
In the bottom of the third, the Germans scored three runs on five basehits to narrow the deficit to 8-4.
Jay Pecci led off with a single, then scored on an one-out double by veteran Simon Gühring, who in the past has played in the Dutch big league for ADO.
Moments later, Gühring scored the next run on a following single by James McOwen.
The latter moved on a single by Aaron Hornostaj, then scored on a 2-out single by Johannes Krumm.
On this basehit, Hornostaj advanced to third base, but then overran the base and was tagged out to end the inning.
In the fourth, Dwayne Kemp led off for Neptunus with a bunt-single, but later was caught stealing.
With two outs, Raily Legito homered, but the 9-4 lead was not enough.
...Dashenko Ricardo hit a gamewinning, 2-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fifth, Heidenheim rallied for five runs on three hits, plus a crucial error, to come alongside!
Sascha Lutz led off with a single, then the bases got loaded with one out when James McOwen also singled and Aaron Hornostaj walked.
That led to a pitching change, as Bayron Cornelisse took over for Yntema.
He began with a walk for Shawn Larry, which resulted in the first run of the inning.
Hereafter, he gave up a 2-run double to Johannes Krumm (who was 3-for-4) that narrowed the deficit to only 9-7.
Cornelisse then struckout next batter Philipp Howard, but as the ball was in the dirt a throw to first base was needed to complete the out.
However, catcher Dashenko Ricardo made a throwing error, which led to two runs and enabled Howard to reach third base.
Howard stranded there, as a foul-out and strikeout followed.
The strikeout again needed a throw to first base to record the out and end the inning.
Neptunus was retired in order in the top of the sixth inning, but re-took the lead in the seventh at bat.
With one out, Gianison Boekhoudt singled, which led to a pitching change.
Martin Dewald took over, but he was greeted with a 2-run homerun by Dashenko Ricardo that gave Neptunus an 11-9 lead.
Later in the inning, the German defense turned a double play, but the game now again had moved the way of Neptunus.
Neptunus added two more runs in the eighth off of new pitcher Julius Spann, thanks to a basesloaded walk for Gianison Boekhoudt and a sacrifice fly by Christian Diaz.
In the ninth, Neptunus scored its 14th run off of Marcel Giraud on a sacrifice fly by Dwayne Kemp.
Neptunus decided the game by scoring five runs on six hits in the final three innings, but in those at bats, it also left five runners behind.
After the 5-run rally in the fifth inning, Heidenheim would reach base only one more time in the remainder of the game.
In the sixth, lead-off hitter Sascha Lutz reached second base on an error, but hereafter, the next 12 batters were retired in order.
With Lutz on second base, Cornelisse retired the next three batters.
He was relieved by Berry van Driel, who got three outs in the seventh and also got two outs in the eighth.
Kevin Kelly then took over and eliminated the lone batter he faced.
In the ninth, Steven van Groningen completed the game for Neptunus with an one-two-three inning.
Benjamin Dille and Raily Legito both had three basehits for Neptunus, while Gianison Boekhoudt batted in four runs.
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Neptunus strikes late in European Champions Cup-opener
SERRAVALLE (San Marino) -
Dutch reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus opened the European Champions Cup-tournament on Tuesday-afternoon (May 31) with a 14-9 victory in Pool A against VOITH Heidenheim Heideköpfe from Germany.
Heidenheim is currently in second place in the 1.Bundesliga, the highest German league, with a 12-4 record behind league-leader Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg (13-3).
Neptunus led 8-1 in the top of the third inning and led 9-4 in the fifth, but the win didn't come easy, as the squad failed to hold onto the big lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, the German opponent came alongside.