Hoofddorp Pioniers got some early scoring opportunities in the first four innings, but scored only two runs off of starter Jurrian Koks.
In the top of the first inning, with two outs, Nolan Beugeling walked and stole second base, but stranded there.
In the next at bat, the team got in scoring position again with two outs.
With one out, Jorrit Penseel walked, but he was then picked off first base by Koks.
Jaison Gijsbertha then singled and Bodhi de Vreede walked, but a force play then ended the at bat.
In the third inning, Pioniers opened the score.
Mark Smit led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Raul Jacobs.
He then scored on a following single by Nolan Beugeling.
With two outs, Beugeling stole second base and moved to third base on an infield-hit by Joey de Koning.
Again, a force play ended the inning.
Pioniers doubled its lead in the fourth inning.
Jaison Gijsbertha led off with a single and moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Bodhi de Vreede.
He advanced to third base on a grounder by Duco Nuijten and scored the second run on a triple by Mark Smit.
He stranded on third base, as Koks closed with a strikeout.
In the meantime, Pioniers-starter Luuk ter Beek held Storks hitless in the first four innings.
However, the righthander got five baserunners.
He walked three and hit two others.
In the bottom of the second inning, Storks got a chance to opend the score.
Ter Beek walked Joost van den Bergh and Giovanny Perez, who then moved on a sacrifice bunt by Jurriaan Dijk.
The bases got loaded when Stephon Mohamed was hit by a pitch, but Ter Beek recovered and closed with two strikeouts.
...The clouds colored nicely during sunset...
(© Photo: Jason Houtkamp) |
In the third, lead-off hitter Kevin Nieveld was hit by a pitch.
He stranded on first base, as the next three batters were retired, two of them with a strikeout.
In the fourth, with one out, Jurriaan Dijk walked, but he also was left behind on first base.
Trailing 2-0, Storks struck in the bottom of the fifth inning, which also had a scary moment.
With one out, Kevin Nieveld and Luuk Visser both singled to record the first basehits for Storks.
Luuk ter Beek followed with his ninth strikeout of the evening, but then gave up a double to Joost van den Bergh that enabled both runners to score and make it a 2-2 score.
With Van den Bergh on second base, Giovanny Perez singled up the middle, where the ball was picked up near the outfield-border by second baseman Raul Jacobs.
Van den Bergh raced towards the plate to score and put Storks ahead, 3-2.
Jacobs turned and threw the ball back to the infield, but instead, the ball hit 3B Umpire Yme van der Lugt on the back of his head.
The umpire, who was standing in the line of the throw, fell down and when Van den Bergh had crossed the plate, the game was interrupted.
Luckily, Van der Lugt sustained no injuries, got back on his feet after being attended and was able to complete the game.
Afterwards, he had some stiffness in his neck, but felt fine.
When the game resumed after the injury delay, Perez was on second base, as he had advanced on the throw.
He then stole third base and scored the next run on a single by Jurriaan Dijk.
That led to a pitching change, as Paul Kirkpatrick took over.
He closed with a strikeout.
In the top of the sixth, Pioniers got runners on first and second base with two outs.
Sem Lauf then took over the Storks-pitching and got an inning-ending grounder.
Pioniers scored a run in the top of the seventh, but got a chance to re-take the lead.
Nolan Beugeling led off with a bad-hop infield-hit.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when Jorrit Penseel singled and Jaison Gijsbertha walked.
A run was scored when pinch-hitter Joey Eeman also walked.
Another pitching change followed.
Nick Winkel took over and he closed with a strikeout, meaning three runners were left behind.
...The sun sets in Hoofddorp...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In the bottom of the seventh, Storks got its two batters on base.
Luuk Visser off with a single and Glennton Poulo reached on a bunt-single, but they stranded.
With Storks leading 4-3, the eighth inning began and it appeared that there was also enough time to play a ninth inning.
However, that changed during the eighth at bat.
In the top of the eighth inning, Raul Jacobs was hit by a pitch with one out.
With two outs, pinch-hitter Mervin Gario also was hit by a pitch, but the inning ended with a strikeout.
When the inning ended, the Pioniers-defense should have entered the field as quickly as possible in order to be able to have a ninth at bat.
However, with some ten minutes left before the 10:30 PM curfew, it took awhile before everyone was back in postion.
On the other hand, Storks did what it had to do in the bottom of the eighth.
Batters took some extra pitches, stepped out of the batter's box an extra time, took a time-out.
Stephon Mohamed led off with an infield-hit, but was forced out on a bunt by Roy Winkel.
He moved to second base on a grounder by Krisztián Tóth.
When next batter Kevin Nieveld entered the batter's box with two outs, there were only two minutes left, but still, it was possible to start the ninth inning.
However, Nieveld's at bat took some time and he walked.
During his at bat, the curfew was reached.
When next batter Luuk Visser struckout, Home Plate Umpire Niek Elshof ended the game, pointing to his watch to make clear the curfew had been reached.
That led to some surprising reactions at the side of Pioniers and it appeared that no one was aware of the rule.
But the game had officially ended and Storks had won, 4-3.
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Storks nips Hoofddorp Pioniers thanks to curfew-rule
HOOFDDORP (Neth.) -
Silicon Storks came from behind and went on to win 4-3 against Hoofddorp Pioniers on Thursday-evening (April 25) in a game that ended prematurely due to the curfew-rule.
It had been a rainy day and work had to be done at the playing field, but the game could be played.
Game played at the site of Hoofddorp Pioniers in Hoofddorp.