Storks was outhit 5-3, but hit one important basehit.
That hit gave the team from The Hague a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.
It gave Storks a second lead in the game and this time, it hold onto it to equal the series and force a fifth game.
Storks opened the score in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Jan-Willem Geerts.
The righthander walked lead-off hitter Kevin Nieveld, who then moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Johnny Schmook.
Nieveld advanced to third base on a single by Giovanny Perez and scored when the latter was forced out on second base on a grounder by Luuk Visser.
Geerts closed with a strikeout.
The basehit by Perez would be the lone one given up by Geerts in the 5 1/3 inning he pitched, but he also walked four batters.
Two of them led to a run.
In the next four innings, Geerts did fine and allowed only one batter to reach base.
With one out in the second, he walked Jurriaan Dijk, but he stranded on first base.
Thereafter, Geerts retired eleven consecutive batters.
That also included a hard-hit in the bottom of the fourth when Joey Schmook drove the ball into deep centerfield, where it was caught by Joran Berkhout just in front of the fence.
Quick Amersfoort faced veteran righthander Jurrian Koks, who had a fine outing.
In 8-plus innings, Koks threw only 96 pitches, gave up five hits, also struckout five and became the winning pitcher.
Almost surely, he will be available to close the game on Sunday if needed.
Quick got into scoring position for the first time in the top of the first inning.
With one out, Denzel Brooks singled.
With two outs, Brooks stole both second and third base in the same situation.
While stealing second base, the ball was thrown off target.
Brooks then took some more distance from the base and when the second baseman didn't take any action, he took off thowards third base, as there was no one covering that base.
However, he would be left behind on third base when a bunt-attempt by next batter Bryan Engelhardt was caught by Koks.
...Winning pitcher Jurrian Koks... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Quick also got a runner in scoring position in its second at bat.
With one out, Odion Gouverneur singled and stole second base with two outs, but he also stranded.
Koks was supported with a double play in the third, then retired the side in the fourth and fifth inning.
In the top of the sixth, Quick came alongside.
With one out, Joran Berkhout singled, stole second base and scored on a following single by Denzel Brooks.
With two outs, Bryan Engelhardt hit the ball into deep rightfield for what appeared to become a homerun.
However, rightfielder Joey Schmook made a great running catch to end the inning, but the score was now 1-1.
Storks immediately re-took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a costly error.
Jan-Willem Geerts walked lead-off hitter Kevin Nieveld and like the first inning, this would result in a run.
Nieveld moved to second base again on a sacrifice bunt by Johnny Schmook.
He would have stayed at second base when a grounder by Giovanny Perez would have been the second out and who knows, he would maybe have been left there.
However, the grounder by Perez ended in a costly throwing error and that enabled Nieveld to advance to third base, while Perez reached second base.
With first base open, Luuk Visser was walked intentionally to set up a force play.
With the bases now loaded, Quick went to the bullpen and brought in lefthander Colin van Laar.
The force play, set up by the intentional walk, didn't come.
Instead, Sergio Schoop delivered a runscoring single that gave Storks a 2-1 lead.
With two outs, Perez scored the next run on a passed ball.
The bases got loaded again when Van Laar walked Jurriaan Dijk.
He then closed with a strikeout, but Storks now had a 2-run lead.
In the top of the seventh, Quick got a runner in scoring position, but also ran itself out of the inning.
With one out, Odion Gouverneur walked and stole second base.
He then tried to advance on a ball in the ground in front of the catcher, but was eliminated at third base.
Next batter Jules Cremer walked, but Jurrian Koks then closed with a strikeout.
Koks retired the side in the eighth, then gave up a lead-off single to Rachid Engelhardt in the ninth.
That led to a pitching change, as third baseman Kevin Nieveld was brought to the mound to close the game.
He struckout powerhitter Bryan Engelhardt, but then walked Taylor Clemensia.
With runners on first and second base, next batter Odion Gouverneur grounded into a game-ending double play.
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