The Netherlands faced another quick deficit, as was the case against Great Britain on Wednesday.
Today, France opened the score in the first inning.
The Netherlands came alongside in the top of the third, but France immediately re-took the lead and this time hold onto it.
The Netherlands reached base in all of the seven innings, but the team stranded ten runners.
Four of them were left in scoring position, but no Dutch runner reached third base.
In the top of the first inning, Bob van der Meer led off with a single, but he was forced out on a grounder by Julian Rip.
A strikeout and popout followed.
In the bottom of the first inning, France struck first.
With two outs, José Paula homered off of starter Martijn Schoonderwoerd.
Like Wednesday's starter Matz Schutte, Schoonderwoerd did not pitch in the Dutch big league this season.
He pitches for Kinheim in the second highest league.
Schutte plays in the same league for RCH-Pinguïns, whom he joined after having pitched three seasons in the Rookie League for the Minnesota Twins.
Schutte, who never played in the Dutch big league before starting a professional career, was 3-2 with two saves in 33 games (2 starts) for GCL Twins.
He was released in July 2017.
...Julian Rip homered for the Netherlands...
...On the photo, he hits for...
...UVV in the 2016 season...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
With two outs in the top of the second inning, the first Dutch runner got into scoring position.
Koen Halderman was then hit by a pitch and advanced when next batter Oliver van der Wijst Severino reached on an error, but a grounder ended the at bat.
After Schoonderwoerd had retired the side in the bottom of the second, the Netherlands came alongside in the top of the third.
With one out, Julian Rip homered to make it an 1-1 score.
This season, the outfielder didn't play in the Dutch big league for HCAW for whom he played in twelve games last year.
Earlier this year, Rip played in 47 games for the team of the University of South Carolina Upstate in the Big South Conference.
In this college-season, he batted .319 (53-for-166) with four homeruns, scored 29 runs and batted in 30.
After Rip's homerun, Tijmen Takke reached second base on an error.
Next batter Taylor Clemensia placed a bunt, but was eliminated at first base by pitcher Clement Esteban, while Van der Meer stayed at second base.
A foulout ended the at bat.
Moments later, in the bottom of the third inning, France re-took the lead.
With one out, Leo Jiminian doubled and scored on a following single by Paolo Brossier.
With two outs, Schoonderwoerd walked Jonathan Duforest and then gave up a single to Frederic Walter.
Another French run was avoided, as Brossier, who tried to score on this hit, was eliminated at the plate after a nice throw from leftfielder Julian Rip.
In the top of the fourth inning, new French pitcher Luke Duris struckout the first two batters, then walked Oliver van der Wijst Severino, but closed with another strikeout.
Aaron de Groot took over the Dutch pitching in the bottom of the fourth.
He gave up a 2-out single to Fabian Kovacs, but he was eliminated when he tried to stretch it into a double.
The Orange Team got another scoring opportunity in the fifth inning, but left two runners behind.
Bob van der Meer led off with a walk, which led to a pitching change.
Maxence Esteban took over and he eliminated Van der Meer at first base with a pick-off.
He then walked Julian Rip, who stole second base.
After striking out the next batter, Esteban also walked Taylor Clemensia, but a grounder ended this at bat.
Angelo Wicklert became the third Dutch pitcher in the fifth and struckout the side.
However, the Dutch offense simply was unable to move the runners around in the remainder of the game.
With one out in the sixth, Koen Halderman was hit by a pitch for the second time, then Oliver van der Wijst Severino walked.
But they were left behind, as Jeandro Tromp flied out and Bob van der Meer struckout.
France, which is managed by former National Team-player Boris Rothermundt, got another runner in scoring position in the top of the seventh, which was the last inning of the game.
José Paula led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt.
Mike Groen then took over the Dutch pitching and retired the next two batters and so, Paula stranded on second base.
The Netherlands got one more runner in its seventh at bat off of new pitcher Antoine Villard.
With two outs, he walked Taylor Clemensia, but his pinch-runner Raul Jacobs then was forced out on second base on a grounder by Delano Selassa.
And that ended not only ended the game, but also almost surely eliminated the Netherlands for the top-four.
That indeed happened later in the afternoon.
And with that, the Netherlands was not only dethroned as European champion, but also was eliminated for qualifcation for next years U23 World Cup.
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Netherlands Under-23 Team ends up short again; Loses European title; Misses World Championship
PRAGUE (Czech Rep.) -
The Netherlands Under-23 Team was left empty-handed again on Day 2 of the U23 European Championship in Prague on Thursday (August 8).
After losing its first game 2-1 to Great Britain on Wednesday, the team lost with the same score today against France.
After the preliminary round, the two best teams in the two pools advance to the Semi-Finals.
With the second loss, the Netherlands only had a theoretical chance left to reach to top-four of the tournament.
But that was a very slim chance, as it included a win for Great Britain against Germany later on the day.
Only that way, a three-way tie could have been created on Friday when the Netherlands would have closed win a win against the Germans and a French loss against the British.
The score of the Netherlands vs. Germany game then could have created a ranking in favor of the Orange Team.