The Netherlands Team arrived on Friday in Brno, then traveled to Ostrava, where it played an exhibition game in the evening against host Czech Republic.
The Orange-squad won 6-5.
The two teams played another exhibition game on Saturday-morning.
This time, the Czechs won 7-6.
Today, the Netherlands opened the Championship against Belarus in Blansko, some 30 minutes north of Brno.
The Orange-squad won 'only' 9-0 and it took awhile to adjust to the Belarussian pitching.
The team of Manager Sidney de Jong led only 2-0 halfway the sixth inning.
The Netherlands collected ten basehits, including three by Denzel Richardson and Ruar Verkerk.
Three Belarussian pitchers walked ten batters.
After both teams were retired in order in the first inning, it was Belarus that got into scoring position first in the second at bat.
Orange-starter Kaj Timmermans struckout the first two batters, but then walked Ilya Dziamchuk and gave up a single to Artsiom Rudzinski.
But a comeback-grounder then ended the at bat.
Timmermans had a strong outing tonight and struckout eleven batters in the sixth innings he pitched.
The righthander walked two batters and gave up only three basehits.
The Netherlands opened the score in the bottom of the second inning.
With one out, Rodney Daal and Kendrick Delima walked.
With two outs, Daal scored on a single by Ruar Verkerk.
In the next two innings, Belarus got into scoring position again, but the Orange-defense avoided giving up runs.
In the third, Timmermans walked lead-off hitter Branislau Tatarevich and gave up an one-out single to Dzmitry Dziamyanenka.
The two moved on a wild pitch with two outs, but then stranded.
In the fourth, Kiryl Kazlouski led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt, but hereafter, Timmermans struckout the next two batters.
The righthander then retired the side in the fifth and sixth inning, adding four more strikeouts.
...Winning pitcher Kaj Timmermans struckout 11 hitters and...
...gave up 3 hits in 6 innings...
...On the photo, he pitches for the Orange during the World...
...Port Tournament last month in Rotterdam (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Netherlands doubled its lead in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Kendrick Delima hit a ground-rule double and scored on a 2-out triple by Ruar Verkerk.
After leaving two runners behind in the fifth, the Orange added two runs in the sixth at bat.
Rachid Engelhardt led off with a single and stole second base, then Ruar Verkerk walked.
The two moved on a sacrifice bunt by Nick Peels, then respectively scored on a sacrifice fly by Delano Selassa and a single by Jelle Kroft to make it a 4-0 score.
Jerremyh Angela took over the Orange-pitching in the seventh inning.
He got a runner in scoring position with two outs, but closed with a strikeout.
The Netherlands took a deciding lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, thanks to a 5-run rally (all unearned) on three hits and two errors with two outs!
Ruar Verkerk led off with a double, but was eliminated at third base when he tried to stretch it into a triple.
With two outs, Delano Selasso reached on an error and Jelle Kroft walked, then Denzel Richardson homered.
A pitching change followed, but new pitcher Kiryl Lapchanka walked Max Draijer, saw Rodney Daal reach on an error and then gave up a 2-run double to Kendrick Delima.
When he then also walked next batters Rachid Engelhardt and Ruar Verkerk, another pitching change followed.
Mikhail Kechko took over and closed the inning with a strikeout.
Maickel Rietel threw the ninth inning for the Netherlands.
He walked the lead-off hitter, which was followed by a flyout.
The next batter then flied out to rightfielder Denzel Richardson, who got the ball in time to first baseman Jelle Kroft to complete a game-ending double play.
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Netherlands Under-23 shuts out Belarus in European Championship-opener
BLANSKO / BRNO (Czech Rep.) / WELS (Austria) / TRNAVA (Slovakia) -
The Netherlands Under-23 Baseball Team shutout Belarus 9-0 in its opening game of the first-ever European Under-23 Championship, which opened on Monday (August 7).
On the first three days of the event, games are played in three different countries, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
From Thursday on, all remaining games will be played in the cities of Blansko and Brno in the Czech Republic.
The Final on Sunday will be played in Brno, which is the main site of the tournament.
In the preliminary round, the Netherlands is playing in Pool A with Belarus, Russia and Croatia.
The games in this pool will be played in Brno and Blansko.