The game remained scoreless for seven innings, as both starting pitchers did fine.
44-year old righthander Elton Koeiman started for Neptunus, struckout three and gave up only four basehits in 6 1/3 inning.
Starting for Pioniers was 17-year old Luuk ter Beek, who also gave up only four basehits in the six innings he pitched.
Ter Beek struckout one hitter and also walked one.
Neptunus today played with another infield set-up as opposed to the previous two games.
Benjamin Dille was the first baseman, Dwayne Kemp played at second base, Stijn van der Meer had moved to third base and Dudley Leonora was the short stop.
In the previous two games, Leonora was the first baseman, while Dille played at his familiar position at second base.
Kemp was the third baseman and Van der Meer the short stop.
Koeiman got his first runner in scoring position in the top of the fifth inning.
Mark Smit led of the at bat with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Damian Melis.
He then advanced to third base on a single by Tyler Boersma, but next hitter Duco Nuijten grounded into a double play to end the inning.
With that, Smit stranded on third base.
Neptunus also turned a double play in the following two innings.
With one out in the sixth, Koeiman hit Mervin Gario with a pitch, but former Neptunian Steven Wharwood then grounded into a double play.
Before mentioning the double play in the seventh inning, let's first see how Neptunus did in its first six innings off of Luuk ter Beek.
The righthander gave up a lead-off double to Stijn van der Meer in the bottom of the first inning, but he stranded on second base.
In the second at bat, it was Ter Beek who was supported with an inning-ending double play after former Pioniers-catcher Quintin De Cuba had singled with one out.
Neptunus got into scoring position for the first time in the third inning.
With two outs, Stijn van der Meer singled and Benjamin Dille reached on an error.
But the latter was then forced out to end the inning.
Neptunus reached third base in the fourth inning when Shaldimar Daantji tripled with one out, but he also was left behind.
And now, let's go back to the seventh inning.
In the top of the seventh, Pioniers got the bases loaded with one out, but failed to open the score.
With one out, Neptunus-starter Elton Koeiman was relieved by Riki Saito.
However, the Japanese lefthander, who had arrived two days earlier, ran into problems.
Saito walked Leandro Anasagasti, then gave up singles to Mark Smit and Damian Melis.
Saito was quickly relieved and Loek van Mil was brought in.
Neptunus avoided giving up runs as the inning ended when Tyler Boersma grounded into a double play.
Pioniers also went to the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Venezuelan righthander Alexander Valdez took over from Luuk ter Beek.
He walked Gregory Muller with one out, but he was caught stealing.
Valdez closed with a strikeout, but Neptunus struck moments later.
After Loek van Mil had retired the side in the top of the eighth (two strikeouts), Neptunus scored three runs off of Valdez in its eighth at bat.
Jochem Koedijk led off with an infield-hit towards Valdez, who followed with a throwing error that led to a runner on second base.
Koedijk moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Stijn van der Meer, then scored on a single by Benjamin Dille.
Next, Dwayne Kemp tripled to bring in Dille and scored himself on a following single by Dudley Leonora.
With a 3-0 lead, Berry van Driel pitched the ninth inning for Neptunus.
He gave up a 2-out single to Leandro Anasagasti, but closed with a strikeout to earn his second save of the season.
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Neptunus wins third game against Pioniers in 8th inning
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus shutout Hoofddorp Pioniers 3-0 on a cloudy and sometimes rainy Sunday (April 29) to complete a 3-game sweep.
Opening Weekend Regular Season.