When the game was halted on August 29, it was two outs from becoming official, as it was halted with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning with the visiting Hoofddorp Pioniers leading 3-0.
But there was more, as Pioniers-starter Chris Pfau was pitching a No-Hitter at that moment!
The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Roger Bernadina in the bottom of the first inning, but he was eliminated when next batter Rachid Engelhardt grounded into a double play.
From that moment on, Pfau retired all batters he faced.
Starting with the double play-grounder, Pfau retired the next twelve batters in a row, eight of them with a strikeout.
From the second through fourth inning, Pfau struckout six consecutive batters.
In the bottom of the fifth, he struckout Tijmen Takke, who became his eighth strikeout-victim and the eighth batter he struckout of the last nine.
But then, the rain came and the game was halted.
After awhile, the rain stopped, but the field had become unplayable.
Shortly thereafter, the umpring crew halted the game after nothing had been done to prepare the field.
With that, Pfau was only two outs away from a victory and a 5-inning No-Hitter!
...Victor Draijer...
...21-game hitting streak...
...batting average .500...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
Pioniers got its first baserunner with one out in the top of the first inning when Victor Draijer walked.
He stole second base, but then was left behind.
After Pioniers was retired in order by Quick-starter Wendell Floranus, the team scored three unearned runs in the third at bat.
Jaison Gijsbertha led off with a walk, but was forced out on a grounder by Raul Jacobs, who advanced to second base when an attempt to complete a double play ended in an error.
The bases got loaded when Mark Smit walked and Victor Draijer singled.
Hereafter, Floranus struckout Max Draijer.
But with two outs, a grounder by Joey Eeman ended in a throwing error, which resulted in two runs.
Victor Draijer moved to third base and he then scored in a double-steal situation with Eeman to make it a 3-0 score.
With his basehit, Victor Draijer extended his hitting streak to fifteen games.
However, as the status of the game was not known afterwards, the streak remained at fourteen at that moment.
Wendell Floranus struckout the side in the fourth inning.
The righthander struckout his seventh batter in the fifth inning.
He then gave up a 2-out double to Victor Draijer in the top of the fifth.
This time, Draijer was left behind on second base.
When the game resumed tonight, some line-up changes were made.
When Pioniers took the field with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Daan Kuit replaced short stop Max Draijer and became the new third baseman, while Jorrit Penseel moved from third to second base and Raul Jacobs switched from second base to short.
Also, Yassir Lachkar took over the pitching from Chris Pfau.
For Quick, Joran Berkhout entered the game as pinch-hitter for injured designated hitter Bryan Engelhardt.
When the bottom of the fifth ended, Berkhout became the new DH, while Gilian Wernet took over the pitching from original starter Wendell Floranus.
Also, Rowan van Hoek took over the catching from Jules Cremer.
The two middle infielders switched places, as Rachid Engelhardt moved from second base to short stop, while Denzel Brooks moved from this position to second base.
With one out in the fifth, new pitcher Yassir Lachkar struckout pinch-hitter Joran Berkhout.
He then gave up a single to Emeron Lourens, which ended the No-Hitter, but a flyout ended the at bat.
With that, it had become a valid game, ten days after it had been halted.
In the top of the sixth, off of new pitcher Gilian Wernet, Pioniers took more distance by scoring three runs.
Wernet walked Joey Eeman and Nathan Berkel, then gave up a runscoring single to Duco Nuijten.
A passed ball accounted for the next run.
After Jorrit Penseel had walked, Nuijten scored the third run in this inning on a sacrifice fly in foul territory by Jaison Gijsbertha.
In the bottom of the sixth, Quick scored what would be its lone run.
Yassir Lachkar walked lead-off hitter Rowan van Hoek, who moved to third base on an one-out single by Roger Bernadina and scored when an error was made on a grounder by Rachid Engelhardt.
After an infield-fly accounted for the second out, Bernadina and Engelhardt advanced on a wild pitch, but they stranded on third and second base, as Lachkar closed with a strikeout.
Pioniers again scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Daan Kuit and Joey Eeman both walked, which led to a pitching change.
Rookie Stijn Bruins Slot took over and got a force play-grounder from Nathan Berkel.
Duco Nuijten then delivered a 2-run triple.
When that was followed by a throwing error, Nuijten was able to continue running and score also.
In the final two innings, Pioniers got only one more baserunner.
That was Reangelo Willems, who hit a pinch-hit single, but stranded on first base.
After scoring its run in the sixth, Quick got two baserunners in the seventh.
With one out, Emeron Lourens singled and Taylor Clemensia walked.
The first advanced on a fyout, but the two runners stranded.
In the eighth, designated hitter Nathan Berkel became the new pitcher for Pioniers.
He gave up a lead-off single to Roger Bernadina, but short stop Raul Jacobs then started a 6-4-3 double play on a grounder by Rachid Engelhardt.
Ademar Rifaela followed with a single, but Berkel then closed with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the ninth, Berkel did fine again in his first pitching appearance of the season.
He walked lead-off hitter Joran Berkhoudt, but then struckout the next two batters.
Moments later, Berkhout was forced out on a grounder by Rowan van Hoek that ended the game.
And how did Victor Draijer do tonight?
As mentioned, he was 2-for-2 (with a walk) in the first five innings of the game that were played on August 29.
When the game resumed tonight, he struckout in the sixth inning, then flied out in the eighth.
With that, his season's batting average was still .500.
Almost surely to secure this historic high average, Draijer left the game in the bottom of the eighth.
Pioniers was leading 9-1 and he would have been the eighth batter in the ninth, but a hitless at bat then would mean his average would drop below .500.
In the bottom of the eighth, Pioniers Head Coach Mervin Gario replaced Draijer and took over at third base, while Daan Kuit took over Draijer's spot in rightfield.
And Victor Draijer became the Best Hitter of the season and also the first to hit .500 since Frank Millerd (Amsterdam Pirates) did so in 1984.
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Hoofddorp Pioniers and Quick Amersfoort complete halted game; Victor Draijer writes history
AMERSFOORT (Neth.) -
Hoofddorp Pioniers recorded a 9-1 victory on Tuesday-evening (September 8) against Quick Amersfoort and completed a game that was halted on Saturday, August 29 with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning due to rain.
With this game, the regular season closed.
All teams played 21 games instead of 42 in a season that was abbreviated due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On August 29, the game, which was the second of a 3-game series, went underway under cloudy conditions in Amersfoort.
With Pioniers leading 3-0 and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the game was halted due to heavy rain, which blanked the playing field.
When it was dry again, the umpires ordered the home-club to do some work to see whether or not the field could be made playable again.
Some reports state that the home-club didn't do anything to work on the field, other reports state that no preparations could be done as it was said that the field was unplayable.
Some fifteen minutes after the umpires had ordered to do some maintenance work on the field and nothing had been done, the umpiring crew halted the game.
With that, it made it a game that was not halted by rain, but due to an umpiring's decision.
This game was originally scheduled for Saturday, August 29, but was then interrupted by heavy rain at 3:21 PM in bottom 5th inning with one out, no baserunners and Hoofddorp Pioniers leading 3-0.