...Rob Cordemans...
...8 strikeouts in 4 innings...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Righthander Rob Cordemans reigned on the mound in the four innings he pitched.
The veteran, who turns 43 next week, struckout eight batters and gave up three hits, while not walking a hitter.
Okay, one of the hits was a homerun, but it showed that Cordemans remains a reliable pitching ace for the Netherlands on the international level.
In the national regular season, Cordemans also had another fine year, pitching for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
He was 10-0 with an 1.58 ERA, which makes him again a serious candidate to be named Best Pitcher of the Year.
Cordemans retired the first seven hitters he faced, five of them with a strikeout.
He then gave up an infield-hit to Mattia Mercuri with one out in the third inning, but then struckout the next batter.
Hereafter, Sebastiano Poma also reached on an infield-hit, which was followed by a throwing error from third baseman Dwayne Kemp.
That enabled both Mercuri and Poma to advance an additional base and led to runners on second and third base.
There, they stranded, as a comeback-grounder to Cordemans ended the at bat.
After striking out the lead-off hitter in the fourth inning, Cordemans gave up a homerun to Robel García Rodríguez.
This was the lone ball hit into the outfield off of Cordemans, who retired the next two batters, closing with his eighth strikeout.
The Orange squad reached base in each of the first three innings off of starter Alex Bassani, but was unable to score and left two runners in scoring position.
In the bottom of the first inning, Stijn van der Meer led off with an infield-hit, but was left on first base when a strikeout and two flyouts followed.
In the second inning, Dudley Leonora led off with a double, then Oliver van der Wijst Severino reached on an infield-hit after Linoy Croes had struckout.
They stranded on first and third base, as next hitter Rodney Daal struckout and Remco Draijer grounded out.
In the third Dutch at bat, Van der Meer led off with a walk and Dwayne Kemp reached on an error with one out, but they also were left behind.
This time, a flyout and a grounder ended the at bat.
Bassani then held the Orange-hitters off base in the fourth inning when he retired the side.
All three Italian outfielders made a putout in this at bat.
...Orlando Yntema...
...3-inning save...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the fifth inning, Maickel Rietel took over from Cordemans and retired the side, including two strikeouts.
Trailing 1-0 and after being retired in the previous at bat, the Netherlands came alongside in the fifth inning on Bassani's successor Diego Fabiani.
He walked lead-off hitter Remco Draijer, who moved into scoring position on a bunt by Stijn van der Meer, then advanced to third base on a grounder by Kalian Sams.
With two outs, Draijer scored the tying run on a double by Dwayne Kemp, who himself stranded on second base.
In the sixth, Mike Bolsenbroek became the third Orange-pitcher.
He walked Nicola Garbella with two outs, but a flyout ended the at bat.
The Netherlands then struck with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, without recording a basehit!
Three of the runs were unearned, as the Italian defense committed two costly errors.
New pitcher Claudio Scotti walked lead-off hitter Dudley Leonora, who then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Linoy Croes.
Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Oliver van der Wijst Severino and Rodney Daal also walked.
That led to another pitching change.
Ludovico Coveri took over, but he made a throwing error on a comeback-grounder from Remco Draijer, resulting in two runs and a 3-1 lead for the Netherlands.
With runners on second and third, Stijn van der Meer flied out.
With first base open, longball-hitter Kalian Sams was then walked intentionally.
Now with the bases loaded, Dwayne Kemp hit the ball towards first baseman Alberto Mineo, who made the second error in the inning.
That led to two more runs and increased the lead to 5-1, while Sams advanced to third base.
The inning ended when Kemp was caught stealing.
With a 5-1 lead, Orlando Yntema took the mound for the Netherlands in the top of the seventh inning to make his comeback in the national squad and he threw three solid innings.
Yntema participated with the team in the World Baseball Classic in March, but fell ill before the start of the season and needed to undergo surgery.
With that, Yntema missed the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands) in July, but later that month, he returned to the mound for his clubteam Curaçao Neptunus in the regular season.
...Remco Draijer accounted for three Dutch runs...
...He scored twice and batted in one...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Yntema retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh inning.
He then walked Alessandro Grimaudo and gave up a single to Mattia Mercuri, but a comeback-grounder from pinch-hitter Alessandro Deotto ended the at bat.
In the eighth, Yntema gave up the second Italian run, which was unearned.
Pinch-hitter Riccardo Bertosi led off with an infield-hit and moved to second base on a passed ball.
Moments later, Bertosi reached third base on a grounder by Alessandro Vaglio.
After Yntema had struckout the next hitter, Bertosi scored on a wild pitch.
The inning ended when Robel García Rodríguez lined out to short stop Stijn van der Meer.
The Netherlands got two more baserunners in their final two at bats.
In the seventh, off of new pitcher Luca Paneratti, Linoy Croes singled with two outs, but was left behind on first base.
And in the eighth, off of Juri Morellini, Stijn van der Meer also singled with two outs.
He also stranded on first base.
In the top of the ninth, Yntema gave up an one-out single to Paolino Ambrosino.
A flyout followed and then, the inning and the game ended when Ambrosino was caught stealing.
As Yntema threw the final three innings in a win-situation, he was credited with a save.
The following players played for the Netherlands:
Stijn van der Meer (SS, 2-for-3, walk, sacrifice bunt), Kalian Sams (CF, 0-for-4, intentional walk, strikeout), Dwayne Kemp (3B, 1-for-4, double, RBI, caught stealing), Nick Urbanus (DH, 0-for-4), Dudley Leonora (1B, 1-for-3, double, run, walk), Linoy Croes (LF, 1-for-4, sacrifice bunt, strikeout), Oliver van der Wijst Severino (2B, 1-for-3, walk), Rodney Daal (C, 0-for-3, run, walk, strikeout), Remco Draijer (RF, 0-for-3, 2 runs, RBI, walk).
Rob Cordemans, Maickel Rietel, Mike Bolsenbroek and Orlando Yntema were the pitchers.
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Netherlands closes European Baseball Series with win against Italy
CODOGNO (Italy) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team closed the third edition of the European Baseball Series against Italy on Sunday (October 22) with a 5-2 victory in Codogno.
Italy won the first game of the Series on Friday-evening in Verona with a small 3-2 score.
On Saturday, in Godo di Russi, Italy also won the second game, this time with a 6-2 score.
With that, Italy also won the Series, as three game were scheduled in this years edition.
The third and final game of this years Series was played at the site of Codogno Baseball '67 Jaguars, which this celebrates its 50th anniversary.
131st international game in history of the Netherlands against Italy.