In today's game, Neptunus collected 13 basehits off three pitchers, who all are members of the Czech National Team.
Three of the hits were recorded by Stijn van der Meer (one double), who also scored twice and batted in a run.
Den Seelbach was the lone Neptunus-hitter without a basehit, but he walked three times and scored three runs.
...Stijn van der Meer...
...3 Hits, double, 2 Runs, 1 RBI...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On a cold afternoon in Brno, Neptunus had a good start and took a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning off of starter Radim Chroust.
Stijn van der Meer and Benjamin Dille led off with singles to put runners at the corners.
With one out, Van der Meer then scored the first run on a grounder by Gianison Boekhoudt.
Hereafter, the inning appeared to end when Dudley Leonora popped up into rightfield.
However, the ball was dropped after being caught and that enabled Dille to score the next run.
Orlando Yntema started for Neptunus.
With one out, he gave up a single, but hereafter, the veteran righthander struckout the next five hitters in a row!
After giving up the two runs, Chroust did well in the next two innings he pitched.
He struckout the first two batters he faced in the second, followed with a walk, but then a pop-fly ended the at bat.
With two outs in the third inning, the righthander gave up a double into left-centerfield to Quintin De Cuba, but then closed with another strikeout.
In the bottom of the third inning, Yntema's spot on the mound was taken over by a surprise reliever, as catcher Gianison Boekhoudt became the new pitcher!
And he did very well.
Boekhoudt, who started the game as designated hitter, started too late taking over first base on a grounder towards first base by lead-off hitter Lukáš Řehůřek, who therefore reached on an infield-hit.
Moments later, Řehůřek was eliminated at second base trying to advance on a passed ball and hereafter, Boekhoudt struckout the next two hitters!
In his second inning as pitcher, Boekhoudt retired the side in the bottom of the fourth, adding another strikeout.
Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma: ,,Boekhoudt had been a pitcher when he played some years ago for Tridents and he has been training as a pitcher this off-season.
Will we use him a lot this season?
No, he has far more value for us as a catcher and a hitter, but if needed, we have an extra arm.
And he showed that he has the tools and can pitch''.
Neptunus took some more distance in the top of the fourth inning off of new pitcher Michal Sobotka, scoring two runs.
He walked lead-off hitter Den Seelbach, who moved on an one-out single by Benjamin Dille, then scored on a following single by Dwayne Kemp.
After the latter was forced out, Dille scored the next run on a single by Quintin De Cuba to make it a 4-0 score.
Neptunus again scored twice off of Sobotka in the top of the fifth inning.
Seelbach led off with another walk and Van der Meer followed with a single.
With two outs, Gianison Boekhoudt (who re-entered in the batting order) and Dudley Leonora delivered runscoring singles.
Boekhoudt didn't bat in the third inning, while warming-up to pitch and his spot in the batting order also was skipped while he was pitching in the fourth.
With that, the batting order of Neptunus was reduced to only seven hitters.
The team played with an 8-man batting order, as it did in Saturday's game.
Neptunus added another run in the sixth inning off of new pitcher Petr Minařík.
With one out, Seelbach walked for the third time and he went on to score his third run on a double by Van der Meer, which was his third basehit in the game.
Radim Šedý threw the fifth and sixth inning for Neptunus.
The 19-year old righthander was a guest-pitcher, as he plays for the Under-21 team of Brno.
Šedý allowed only one player to reach base.
Neptunus added three more basehits, but no runs, in the top of the seventh inning.
This was to be the final at bat in the game, as it ended after the third out was recorded.
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Neptunus shuts out Brno in final game
BRNO (Czech Rep.) -
Curaçao Neptunus closed its series of games against Draci Brno on Sunday (March 25) with a 7-0 shutout-victory in 6½ inning.
On Saturday, Brno recorded a 4-1 win in a 9-game match-up.
Today, Neptunus was more productive offensively and recorded 13 basehits, which was more than in the first two games combined.
Exhibition Game.