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Updated: August 17, 2019
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Grand Slam/Marco Stoovelaar


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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)

Storks forces fifth game in series against Quick Amersfoort
Nederlands

THE HAGUE (Neth.) - Silicon Storks broke an 1-1 tie to win 3-1 against Quick Amersfoort on Saturday-afternoon (August 17) in Game 4 of its best-of-five Play-Down Series. With the win, Storks forced a fifth and deciding game that will be played on Sunday in Amersfoort.

Quick Amersfoort, which finished in fifth place in the regular season, opened the series against Storks on August 1 with 15-3 win. Storks, which closed the season in eighth and last place, then won the second game on August 3 at home with a 7-6 score. The next day, Quick won 9-8.

In the second game, Storks came from behind to win. The team trailed 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, then scored three runs on three hits, while the Quick-defense committed two errors.

In Game 3, Quick led 7-0 after three innings, then Storks narrowed the deficit to 7-6. Quick took more distance by adding two runs (9-6), but Storks again came back, but ended up one run short.

Today, it had been a rainy night and morning in The Hague. A lot of work was done at the field to make it playable and so, the game went underway at 2:30 PM, as scheduled. Storks failed to hold onto an minimal 1-0 lead, as Quick came alongside in the sixth. Storks then scored twice in its sixth at bat en route to the win to force a fifth game.

(August 17)




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.



Silicon Storks - Quick Amersfoort 3-1
RHE
Quick Amersfoort000001000-151
Silicon Storks10000200X-330
pitchers Quickinn.SOBBHRER
Jan-Willem Geerts, L (0-2)5.134131

Colin van Laar2.2412--

pitchers Storksinn.SOBBHRER
Jurrian Koks, W (1-0)8 (*)52511

Kevin Nieveld, SV (1)111---
(*) - Koks pitched to one batter in the ninth inning
Box Score
Play-by-Play
Standings
Scores
Schedule
Team Rosters
Umpires: HP-Rob Has, 1B-Stenar van Groningen Schinkel,
3B-Henri van Heijningen.
Official Scorer-Tineke Has.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Linda Steijger.
Technical Commissioner-Fred van Groningen Schinkel.
Public Address Announcer-Dave Klarholz.
Scoreboard Operator-Done from the Storks dug-out.
Starting Time-2:30 PM.
Time Played-2:34 hrs.
Site-Sportpark 'Kijkduin', The Hague.

Game Notes:
Game 4, Play-Downs nr. 5 vs. nr. 8.
Series tied, 2-2.
Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 20° C (68° F); wind direction south-southwest;
wind speed 29 kmh (18 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 82%.




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