Amsterdam took a quick early lead, scoring a run in the top of the first inning off of starter Lars Huijer.
The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Remco Draijer, who moved on a sacrifice bunt by Zerzinho Croes and a grounder by Nick Urbanus, then scored on an infield-hit by Gilmer Lampe.
Amsterdam got a chance to take some more distance in the second at bat, but then left two runners behind.
With one out, Linoy Croes and Rashid Gerard both singled, then advanced on a passed ball.
But with runners on second and third base, Huijer struckout the next batter (his third in two innings) and a grounder ended the at bat.
Amsterdam-starter Rob Cordemans retired the side in the first inning, but then gave up the tying in the second and he could only blame himself for that.
After giving the tying run, the veteran righthander had a strong finish.
Cordemans walked lead-off hitter Jeffrey Arends, then gave up a single to Quintin De Cuba, which put runners at the corners.
Next batter Shurman Marlin hit a comeback-grounder to Cordemans, who then made a throwing error towards his catcher trying to eliminate Arends, who had taken off from third base.
With that, Arends scored and Pioniers had runners on second and third base, because of the error.
Joey Eeman then lined out to short stop Zerzinho Croes to become the second out.
To create a force play, the bases were loaded by giving Glenn Bakker an intentional walk.
Cordemans, who was 10-0 in the regular season, followed with a strikeout and a flyout ended the inning, meaning three runners were left behind.
Two scoreless innings followed.
Amsterdam was retired in order in the third and left a runner on second base in the fourth.
Pioniers stranded a runner on second base in both the third and fourth inning.
Amsterdam then struck with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to re-take the lead.
Remco Draijer led off with a bunt-single, then raced to third base on a single by Zerzinho Croes.
The score was untied when Draijer scored on a grounder by Nick Urbanus, which brought Croes to second base.
Moments later, he advanced on a grounder by Gilmer Lampe, then scored the next run on a wild pitch.
With the bases now empty, Danny Rombley singled and scored on a following triple by Kenny Berkenbosch to lift the lead to 4-1.
...Rob Cordemans...
...winning pitcher...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Pioniers got its first two batters on base off of Cordemans.
Mark Smit led off with a single and Max Draijer was hit by a pitch.
But hereafter, the Amsterdam-defense turned a double play and a flyout ended the inning.
In the regular season, Amsterdam led the league with 39 double plays.
The remaining four innings in tonight's game stayed scoreless, but both teams got runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth at bat.
In the top of the seventh, Nick Urbanus singled for Amsterdam with one out and moved on a grounder, but stranded on second base.
In the top of the eighth, Dion Steijl took over the pitching from Lars Huijer.
Steijl last pitched at the highest level in 2013 when he played for Kinheim.
With one out, he walked Linoy Croes and Rashid Gerard, but a grounder and strikeout followed.
In the ninth, off of Glenn Wassink, Zerzinho Croes and Nick Urbanus singled for Amsterdam Pirates.
Two consecutive infield-flies followed and a flyout closed the at bat.
For Pioniers, Glenn Bakker led off the seventh inning with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt.
After a flyout, the inning ended when Rob Cordemans closed with his sixth strikeout.
The righthander is 21 strikeouts away from tying the all-time strikeout-record.
However, the stats in this Championship Pool don't count for his career-totals, as the regular season ended two weeks ago.
And the stats in the Championship Pool belong to the postseason-results.
So, Cordemans will have to wait until next year to even and break the record.
In the eighth, Dennis Burgersdijk took over the Amsterdam-pitching.
With one out, he gave up singles to Jeffrey Arends and Quintin De Cuba, but a strikeout and flyout followed.
In the ninth, lead-off hitter Glenn Bakker reached for Pioniers on an error and moved to second base, but also was left behind when two flyouts ended the game.
|
Amsterdam Pirates opens Championship Pool with win against Hoofddorp Pioniers
HOOFDDORP (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates opened the Championship Pool on Thursday-evening (August 17) with a 4-1 victory at Hoofddorp Pioniers.
In the regular season, Amsterdam finished in first place to qualify for next years European Champions Cup.
The team was the first to qualify for the top-4 on June18, while Pioniers was the fourth to reach the Championship Pool on July 23.