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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Alfred Cop & Judith de Heide)
 Neptunus wins vs. HCAW; both teams in Championship Pool
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus trailed 2-0, but won 4-2 on a cool Thursday-evening (June 22) against HCAW to move back into second place.
In the late afternoon, heavy thunderstorms with lightning traveled across the country.
Luckily, the showers were gone within an hour, the playing fields got much-needed water after some hot days and all games could be played as scheduled.
The win of Neptunus combined secured the Rotterdam-squad a spot in the Championship Pool (or Play-Offs).
Because of the loss of DSS, HCAW also clinched a spot in the top-4.
Since 2007, Amsterdam Pirates, Hoofddorp Pioniers, Kinheim and Neptunus qualified for the Play-Offs in ten consecutive seasons!
After completion of last season, Kinheim withdraw its team from the highest league, meaning this streak ends.
HCAW last qualified for the Play-Offs in 2005.
In that year, it also played its fifth consecutive Holland Series against Neptunus, which won all five.
Neptunus, which was held hitless for 4 2/3 inning, trailed 2-0 halfway the seventh inning, then came alongside.
The home team then took the lead by scoring two more runs in the eighth at bat.
(June 22)
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In the first four innings, lefthanded starters Diegomar Markwell (Neptunus) and Jim Ploeger (HCAW) both threw a No-Hitter!
For both pitchers, their No-Hitter ended in the fifth inning.
Markwell retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced.
In the top of the first, he walked Vince Rooi with two outs, but then retired the next ten baters in a row.
In the top of the fifth, Rachid Engelhardt led off with a single that jumped up near third baseman Dwayne Kemp down the leftfield-line.
He then scored the first run when Kevin Weijgertse tripled.
With one out, Sven Jongejans walked, but he was forced out on a grounder by Boyd Tuhumury, but that also brought in Weijgertse to give HCAW a 2-0 lead.
Ploeger walked two batters in his first four innings.
He walked Gregory Muller with two outs in the second inning and walked Jochem Koedijk with one out in the third.
After having retired the side in the fourth and also eliminating the first two batters in the fifth, Ploeger gave up a 2-out double to Daniel Fernandes in the fifth, but he was left behind.
Both teams left a runner on first base in the sixth inning.
In the seventh, HCAW got its next runner in scoring position.
Seb Visser led off with a single, then moved on a sacrifice bunt by Sven Jongejans and a grounder by Boyd Tuhumury, but stranded on third base.
Neptunus came alongside in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two unearned runs.
With one out, Gregory Muller walked and with two outs, Daniel Fernandes reached when his grounder towards third baseman Vince Rooi ended in an error.
Ploeger then gave up runscoring singles to Jochem Koedijk and Stijn van der Meer that made it a 2-2 score.
That also led to a pitching change, as Oscar Meuris took over for HCAW.
He got a grounder that ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Neptunus again scored two runs to take over the lead.
Christian Diaz led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Dwayne Kemp.
With first base open, powerhitter Gianison Boekhoudt was walked intentionally, despite the fact he had struckout in each of his previous three at bats.
Boekhoudt was forced out on a grounder by Gregory Muller.
That brought Diaz to third base and he then scored the go-ahead run on a single by Ruar Verkerk, who was the designated hitter tonight for Neptunus.
Daniel Fernandes followed with another runscoring single to make it 4-2 in favor of Neptunus.
In the top of the ninth inning, Berry van Driel closed for Neptunus and retired the side to earn his third save of the season.
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...It was a somber, cloudy and rainy afternoon in Rotterdam some hours before the start of tonight's game...
(© Photos: Judith de Heide) |
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...Left: Jim Ploeger started and had another strong outing for HCAW...
...Right: Kevin Weijgertse is greeted in the dug-out after scoring HCAW's second run in the 5th inning... |
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| ...Boyd Tuhumury connects for HCAW and breaks his bat... |
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...Boyd Tuhumury breaks his bat... |
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...A nice photo-sequence of rightfielder Rachid Engelhardt making a great sliding catch... |
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| Curaçao Neptunus - HCAW 4-2 |
| R | H | E |
| HCAW | 000 | 020 | 000 | - | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Curaçao Neptunus | 000 | 000 | 22X | - | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| pitchers HCAW | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Jim Ploeger | 6.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
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| Oscar Meuris, L (2-2) | 1.1 | - | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
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| pitchers Neptunus | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Diegomar Markwell, W (6-1) | 8 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
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| Berry van Driel, SV (3) | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Rudsel Schoobaar, 1B-Fred van Groningen Schinkel,
3B-Winfried Berkvens.
Official Scorer-Brigitta Zaal.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Stefan Slinger.
Technical Commissioner-Henk van der Linde.
Public Address Announcer-Hélène van Eijk.
Scoreboard Operator-Lex Looijen.
Starting Time-7:30 PM.
Time Played-2:15 hrs.
Site-Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam.
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 19,2° C (66,6° F); wind direction west-southwest;
wind speed 27 kmh (16,4 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 82%. |
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Copyright © 1997-2017 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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