Neptunus opened the score quickly in the top of the first inning off of starter Kaj Timmermans.
With two outs, Gianison Boekhoudt hammered his third homerun in the Championship Pool, which was his eleventh fourbagger in the season.
The lead was shortlived, as HCAW came alongside in the bottom of the second inning off of Orlando Yntema.
The righthander gave up an one-out single in the first inning, but the Neptunus-defense then turned a double play.
In the second at bat, Rachid Engelhardt walked with one out, then scored the tying run on a 2-out double by Rossini Frolijk.
Neptunus was retired in order by Kaj Timmermans in the second and third inning, but then struck with four runs in the top of the fourth on five basehits.
Benjamin Dille led off with a single, then Dwayne Kemp doubled with one out.
The two respectively scored on a single by Gregory Muller and a sacrifice fly by Shaldimar Daantji.
With two outs, Muller moved to third base on a single by Ruar Verkerk, then Daniel Fernandes followed with a 2-run single to increase the lead to 5-1.
In the remainder of the game, Neptunus was held scoreless by the HCAW-pitching.
In the sixth, Moreno Vork took over the pitching from Timmermans.
He gave up an one-out single to Shaldimar Daantji, but was then supported with a double play.
In the seventh, Neptunus got into scoring position again.
Lead-off hitter Daniel Fernandes reached on an error, then stole second base.
As the pitch he stole on ended in a wild pitch, he was able to move onto third base.
However, he stranded there, as the next three batters were retired.
In the eighth, off of new pitcher Tim Niekerk, Neptunus left runners behind on first and second base.
And in the ninth, the Rotterdam-squad was retired in order by closer Sedley Karel.
After coming alongside in the second, HCAW got into scoring position again in the third at bat.
Dexter de Weert, who did the catching again for HCAW today, led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Boyd Tuhumury, but was left on second base.
With a 5-1 lead, Orlando Yntema retired the side in the fourth and fifth inning, but saw HCAW get into scoring position again in the sixth.
He walked Roelie Henrique, which was followed by a double play.
But hereafter, Yntema hit Vince Rooi with a pitch and walked Rachid Engelhardt, who both advanced on a wild pitch.
Yntema closed with a strikeout!
Three relievers then completed the game for Neptunus.
First, Elton Koeiman threw the seventh inning.
The veteran righthander gave up an one-out single to Kevin Weijgertse, but two force play-grounders followed.
In the eighth, Berry van Driel walked lead-off hitter Roelie Henrique, who stole second base with one out, but then stranded.
Loek van Mil took the mound in the ninth.
The righthander struckout two batters, but also walked two and gave up two hits and two earned runs.
Seb Visser led off with a single, then his pinch-runner Diamond Silberie advanced when Rossini Frolijk walked.
The latter was then replaced by pinch-runner Koen Werkman.
For Werkman, this was his first game since April 20.
Back then, the rookie played in only his second game of the season and made his first start.
As the designated hitter in the home game against Pickles UVV, he reached on an infield-hit in the second inning, which was hit first big league-basehit.
Moments later, he was caught stealing.
During his slide into the base, he ended up wrongly and immediately reached for his arm while walking off the field.
Werkman left the game and in the hospital, it was diagnosed that he had sustained a fracture in his right scapula, meaning he was out for several months.
Today, he made his comeback.
With runners on first and second base, Van Mil struckout the next two batters, but he then got the bases loaded when he walked pinch-hitter Raoell Kortstam.
Hereafter, he gave up a 2-run single to Roelie Henrique, which narrowed HCAW's deficit to 5-3, but a pop-fly then ended the game.
|
Neptunus strikes in 4th inning to win vs. HCAW
BUSSUM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus won 5-3 on Sunday (September 10) to record its second win against HCAW.
Both teams will make up their rained out Saturday-game on Tuesday-evening in Rotterdam.
Today, HCAW celebrated that it is 'Proud To B Back' in the top-four.
The last time the team played in the Play-Offs was twelve years ago.
To celebrate the return to the top, an exhibition game was played between the Netherlands Old Star Team and the so-called HCAW ReserveReserves (HCAW-3), starting at 11:30 AM.
Amongst the players in the Old Star Team were former HCAW-players as Jeffrey Cranston, Jurjan Koenen, Roy Berrevoets and Frank Koene.
This year, HCAW also celebrates its 60th anniversary.
As the exhibition game ended around 1:40 PM, Neptunus and HCAW both got some 15 minutes to do some batting practice to prepare for their game.
During a special opening ceremony before the start of the game, former Netherlands Team (and HCAW)-player Sidney de Jong threw the ceremonial first pitch.
De Jong is currently the Hitting Coach of the Netherlands National (Kingdom) Team and the Manager of the Netherlands Under-23 Team, with whom he won the European Championship-title recently.
Game started five minutes later than scheduled due to finish of preceeding exhibition game as part of the 'Proud-To-B-Back'-celebrations of HCAW.