(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Roster Netherlands Team announced for European Baseball Series
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Twenty-two players have been named to the roster of the Netherlands Baseball Team that wil participate in the upcoming third edition of the European Baseball Series, which will take place October 20-22 in Italy.
The roster was announced on Friday (October 13).
It is hoped that the Series between European powerhouses Netherlands and Italy will become an annual event from now on with next years games of the fourth edition to be played in the Netherlands.
Amongst the 22 players, Manager Steve Janssen selected seven players, who will make their National Team-debut.
They are pitcher Maickel Rietel, catchers Paul Brands and Rodney Daal, infielders Zerzinho Croes and Oliver van der Wijst Severino and outfielders Linoy Croes and Daniel Fernandes.
In August, Rietel and Daal were members of the Netherlands Under-23 Team that captured the title at the European Under-23 Championship in Brno (Czech Republic).
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...Debuting players Linoy Croes, Zerzinho Croes and Daniel Fernandes...
...faced each other during the recent Holland Series...
(© All Photos: Henk Seppen) |
During the World Port Tournament in July, nine players made their debut in the Orange-squad.
Amongst them was infielder Max Draijer, who is now selected again for the Series in Italy.
The WPT-team then was led by Sidney de Jong to give him some additional experience to manage at the international level, as he also was the Manager of the Under-23 Team during the European Championship.
In the upcoming European Baseball Series, the Netherlands will be led again by Steve Janssen, who served as an Advisor during the World Port Tournament.
In Italy, De Jong will be an Assistant Coach again of Janssen, as he had been in previous years.
There are three active professional players on the roster, Paul Brands, Kalian Sams and Oliver van der Wijst Severino.
Both Brands and Van der Wijst completed the season playing for Hoofddorp Pioniers, while Sams started and ended the season playing for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
This year, Brands completed his third professional season in the organization of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It was his third season at the Rookie League-level and he closed with a .220 batting average (26-for-118) with seven doubles, one triple and three homeruns.
Brands scored 18 runs and batted in 15.
Van der Wijst Severino completed his first professional season in the organization of the Houston Astros this year, playing for DSL Astros Orange in the Dominican Summer League.
The infielder played in 35 games and finished the season with a .273 batting average (27-for-99) with six doubles and two homeruns.
Van der Wijst scored 11 runs and batted in 14.
Sams batted .291 (83-for-285) in 72 games with 15 doubles, one triple and 23 homeruns.
The outfielder scored 63 runs and batted in 70 for Les Capitales de Québec, with whom he won the Championship-title in the independent CanAm League.
This year, his third with the Capitales, Sams also played in the All Star Game of the League.
...Umpires Roy van de Wateringen & Edwin Louisa...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
L&D Amsterdam Pirates is represented by seven players on the roster, while Hoofddorp Pioniers has six and Dutch champion Curaçao Neptunus has five.
DSS, HCAW and Pickles UVV all have one player each in the National Team, as has the German club Buchbinder Regensburg Legionäre.
The Netherlands, which is the reigning European Champion, travels to Italy on Friday-morning and will play three games against Italy, which finished in third place during last years European Championship.
The Series opens on Friday in Verona, where the first game will be played at Stadio Gavagnin, starting at 7 PM.
On Saturday, Game 2 will be played at Stadio Casadio in Godo, starting at 5 PM.
The Series concludes on Sunday at Stadio Comunale in Codogno with the third game, that will begin at 3 PM.
Umpires Edwin Louisa and Roy van de Wateringen will travel with the team to Italy to officiate in the games.
The first European Baseball Series took place in 2006.
The first three games were then played in Rotterdam (Netherlands), then the next two were played in Grosseto and Nettuno (Italy).
A sixth game was scheduled to be played in Messina, but that rained out.
The second Series was organized in 2009 with the first two games being played in Bussum and Eindhoven (Netherlands), followed by two games in the Italian cities Godo and Ravenna.
Overall, nine games have been played so far in the event with both teams winning four of them.
One game ended in a tie.
The roster looks as follows:
Pitchers (9):
Mike Bolsenbroek (Buchbinder Regensburg Legionäre, Germany), Rob Cordemans, Kevin Heijstek (both L&D Amsterdam Pirates), Lars Huijer, Maickel Rietel (both Hoofddorp Pioniers), Diegomar Markwell, Orlando Yntema (both Curaçao Neptunus), Jim Ploeger (HCAW) and Tom Stuifbergen (DSS).
Catchers (2):
Paul Brands (Pittsburgh Pirates-org., USA / Hoofddorp Pioniers) and Rodney Daal (Pickles UVV).
Infielders (7):
Zerzinho Croes, Nick Urbanus (both L&D Amsterdam Pirates), Max Draijer, Dudley Leonora (both Hoofdorp Pioniers), Dwayne Kemp, Stijn van der Meer (both Curaçao Neptunus) and Oliver van der Wijst Severino (Houston Astros-org., USA/Dominican Republic / Hoofddorp Pioniers).
Outfielders (4):
Linoy Croes, Remco Draijer (both L&D Amsterdam Pirates), Daniel Fernandes (Curaçao Neptunus) and Kalian Sams (Les Capitales de Québec, Canada / L&D Amsterdam Pirates).
Coaching Staff:
Steve Janssen (Manager), Sidney de Jong (Coach), Wim Martinus (Coach).
Supporting Staff:
Kevin Sprengers (Physical Therapist), Jan de Wit (Physical Therapist), Jaap Visser (Equipment Manager), Greta Schouten (Team Manager).
(October 16)
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