(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
  Loek van Mil & Bas Nooij enter final month of Australian Baseball League
Nederlands
 ADELAIDE, South Australia (Australia) -
The season of the professional Australian Baseball League has entered its final month.
The regular season of the 6-team league closes on January 29 and then will be followed by the Play-Offs and the Championship Series in February.
In the past two months, two Dutch players were active in the Australian Baseball League (which opened November 16), being pitcher Loek van Mil and catcher Bas Nooij.
Last year, Van Mil returned to Curaçao Neptunus in the Dutch big league after being released after having pitched in five games for the Triple-A team of the Minnesota Twins.
Nooij played for Quick Amersfoort in the second highest league least season, before moving to Australia.
Before that, he had played several seasons at the highest level for L&D Amsterdam Pirates, as well as in the Netherlands National Team.
Loek van Mil, who is a current member of the Dutch Orange squad, again pitches for SA Power Networks Adelaide Bite.
Last season, the righthanded pitcher made his debut in the Australian Baseball League.
He then reached the best-of-three Championship Final with Adelaide, but the team was swept in two games by WellDog Brisbane Bandits.
Since November 19, Van Mil appeared in ten games (the last nine as closer) for Adelaide.
So far, he is 0-1 with an 0.66 ERA and struckout 15 batters in 13 2/3 inning.
Van Mil, who gave up only one (earned) run, is credited with four saves, which he earned in four of his last six games.
Bas Nooij also plays for Adelaide Bite and made his ABL-debut on November 26.
However, after having played in seven games for the team, he was reassigned to Kensington Cardinals, its minor league-squad, on December 19.
In his first game on November 26, which also happened the to his 29th birthday, Nooij had a successful debut.
In the home game against Jet Couriers Melbourne Aces, Adelaide trailed 2-0, then came alongside in the seventh thanks to a 2-run triple by LeDarious Clark.
With a runner on third base and one out, Shogo Nada entered the game as new pitcher, then Bas Nooij was inserted as pinch-hitter.
He grounded to short, which resulted in Clark being eliminated at the plate.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Nooij singled with two outs, but stranded on first base and with that, the game went into extra innings.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, with the two tie-break runners on first and second base, batter LeDarious Clark was ejected by Home Plate Umpire Ian Reval after reacting after a strike-call.
He was replaced by Kentaro Ueda, who then was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases.
That brought Nooij in the batter's box and he delivered a walk-off single that gave Adelaide a 3-2 victory.
In the seven games that Nooij played for Adelaide through December 18, he batted .385 (5-for-13), scored twice and batted in one run.
Nooij walked four times.
Also on the roster of Adelaide is 37-year old Korean Hei-Chun Lee, who played in the Korean Baseball Organisation, pitching in more than 700 games.
Lee also pitched two seasons in the Japanese Major League for Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Last month, on December 22 in Melbourne, Van Mil was on the roster of the World All Star Team for the annual ABL All Star Game.
For the second year in a row, Team Australia recorded a come-from-behind victory.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Trent D'Antonio singled, which was only the second hit of Australia in the game.
D'Antonio advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a walk-off single by Stefan Welch.
A year ago, D'Antonio had delivered the winning walk-off basehit.
Van Mil pitched the fifth inning and was credited with a Hold.
The starting pitcher for the World All Stars was former Major League-pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, who with this made his ABL-debut.
The 37-year old righthander pitched for Cleveland Indians (2004-2006), Baltimore Orioles (2007-2011) and Colorado Rockies (2012) before being traded to Kansas City Royals in July 2012.
With the Royals, he pitched in the World Series 2014 against San Francisco Giants.
Guthrie became a Free Agent in November 2015, then signed a Minor League-contract with the Texas Rangers in February 2016, but was released the next month.
He then signed in April with the San Diego Padres, who released him in June.
Later that month, Guthrie signed with the Miami Marlins, but in July, he was released for the third time last year.
On December 5, the righthander was signed by Melbourne Aces and made his debut in Australia.
In 2010 and 2012, Guthrie participated as one of the instructors during the European Big League Tour in Haarlem and Rotterdam (Netherlands), which was organized by Dutch professional pitcher Rick van den Hurk.
...Jeremy Guthrie during the 2012...
...European Big League Tour...
...in Rotterdam (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Guthrie threw a scoreless first inning for the World All Stars on December 22.
The righthander then made his regular season-debut for Melbourne Aces on December 30 against CompassMarkets Sydney Blue Sox
Guthrie was the starting pitcher and threw four innings in which he struckout one batter.
But he also gave up six basehits and six runs (two earned), including three in the first inning, to become the losing pitcher.
Melbourne is led by National Team-Manager Jon Deeble.
Two former pitchers of Neptunus threw for Team Australia in the All Star Game.
Craig Anderson started and gave up two hits, but no runs, in the first inning.
Dushan Ruzic threw the scoreless fifth inning for the Australian squad, struckout two batters and also walked two.
In the second inning, Anderson was relieved by Justin Erasmus, who last year made his debut in the Dutch big league pitching for De Glaskoning Twins.
However, during the season, the righthander transfered to Munich-Haar Disciples in the German league.
Besides Anderson, Erasmus and Ruzic, all players of the Australian National Team, most of whom participated last year in the Baseball Week Haarlem in the Netherlands, play in the ABL.
But there are more familiar names, including pitchers Vaughan Harris and Todd Van Steensel, who both have pitched in the past for Kinheim in the Dutch big league.
Harris and Van Steensel both pitch for Sydney Blue Sox, as does Anderson, while Ruzic plays for Melbourne Aces.
Another known player is infielder Donald Lutz, who plays for Brisbane Bandits, as is Erasmus.
Lutz played in the Major League for Cincinnati Reds in 2013-2014, but also is a member of the German National Team.
The Australian season continues again coming Thursday.
Melbourne Aces is currently in first place with a 18-6 record, followed by Canberra Elite Cavalry (13-11), Adelaide Bite (12-12) and Brisbane Bite (11-13).
Sydney Blue Sox (10-14) is in fifth place and Alcohol Think Again Perth Heat (8-16) is in last place.
The team that finishes in first place automatically qualifies for the best-of-three Championship Final.
In this series, it will face the winner of the best-of-three Play-Off between the numbers two and three of the regular season.
(January 2)
|
