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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Robert Bos & Henk Seppen) Urbanus Tournament: Neptunus wins big; Another tie for HCAW Nederlands HOOFDDORP / AMSTERDAM (Neth.) - Curaçao Neptunus recorded a big 12-1 win against reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates on Saturday-afternoon (July 18), Day 2 of the In Memoriam Charles Urbanus Sr. Tournament. In Hoofddorp, tournament-organisor HCAW's second game ended in another tie. After the first game on Thursday against Pirates finished with an 8-8 tie, today's game at Hoofddorp Pioniers ended with a 3-3 score. Neptunus opened the tournament on Thursday with a come-from-behind 5-2 win against Pioniers. With today's results, both Pirates and Pioniers were eliminated for the tournament-win. On Sunday, the 38th edition of the annual event will close with two games at the site of HCAW in Bussum. Starting at 11 AM, Pirates and Pioniers will face each other. From 3 PM on, HCAW and Neptunus will meet with the winner becoming the winner of the tournament. With the games to be played on Sunday, the exhibition season will close. The regular season then opens coming Thursday-evening, July 23, which will the latest season-opener ever. (July 18) Standings Exhibition Season Scores Schedule

...Victor Draijer, who played for L&D Amsterdam Pirates... ...in 2018-2019, had two two doubles, scored a run... ...and batted in one for Pioniers... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) Hoofddorp Pioniers vs. HCAW Both Hoofddorp Pioniers and HCAW were leading at one moment in the quick-paced game, but in the end, it ended with a 3-3 tie. Pioniers recorded eight basehits off of two pitchers, while HCAW collected only four hits off of six pitchers. HCAW was retired in order in the first inning by Lars Huijer, who threw only one inning for the home-team. Lars Broersen took over in the second and threw three scoreless innings. Broersen got one runner in scoring position. In the second inning, Rodney Daal led off with a double, but stranded at second base. HCAW then left a runner on first base in both the third and fourth at bat. Pioniers faced lefthander Nick Keur, who gave up two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Tyler Boersma and Victor Draijer led off with back-to-back doubles, which gave Pioniers its first run. With Duco Nuijten in the batter's box, Draijer stole third base, then scored when a throwing error from the catcher followed. Pioniers came close to its third run in the fifth inning. With one out, Nolan Beugeling hit a triple. But moments later, he was eliminated at the plate on a grounder to short by next batter Jorrit Penseel. HCAW was retired in order by Sander Helmendach in the fifth, but then scored its first run in the sixth. He gave up a lead-off single to Pascal Zegwaard, who then stole second base and later scored on a grounder by Patrick Bok. HCAW came alongside in the seventh off of new pitcher Yassir Lachkar. Lead-off hitter Kevin Dirksen reached second base on an error. With two outs, he scored the tying run on a single by Leandro Anasagasti. In the bottom of the seventh, off of new pitcher Bobby Gnade, Pioniers again got a runner on third base. With one out, Victor Draijer doubled and moved on a flyout, but then was left behind. HCAW took a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth off of Angelo Wicklert, the sixth pitcher of the afternoon for Pioniers. He got the bases loaded when Rodney Daal led off with a walk, Kevin Dirksen doubled and Linoy Croes also walked. Daal was then forced out at the plate on a grounder by Berend Ruben, but with two outs, Dirksen scored when Arthur Lugtmeijer also walked. HCAW left the bases loaded, as a flyout ended the at bat. Pioniers tied the score in its ninth at bat. With one out, Raul Jacobs hit a triple and scored on a following single by Joey Eeman. Pioniers got another baserunner when Jaison Gijsbertha also singled. However, a flyout and force out then ended the inning and the game.

Hoofddorp Pioniers - HCAW 3-3 (9 inn.) R H E HCAW 000 001 101 - 3 4 3 Hoofddorp Pioniers 020 000 001 - 3 8 1 pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER Nick Keur 6 2 1 4 2 1 Bobby Gnade 3 - - 4 1 1 pitchers Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER Lars Huijer 1 1 - - - - Lars Broersen 3 2 2 1 - - Sander Helmendach, H (1) 2 - - 1 1 1 Yassir Lachkar, BS (1) 1 - - 1 1 - Nick Loos 1 - - - - - Angelo Wicklert 1 1 3 1 1 1 Umpires: HP-John Beltman, 1B-Edwin Louisa. Scorer-Han Monsees (HCAW). Public Address Announcer-None. Scoreboard Operator-None. Starting Time-1:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp. Game Notes: Game 3, In Memoriam Charles Urbanus Sr. Tournament 2020. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 21° C (69,8° F); wind direction southwest; wind speed 23 kmh (14,3 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 64%.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. Curaçao Neptunus In its previous games, Neptunus decided the score late several times. The team trailed, then turned the game around to win. Today, the Rotterdam-squad took the lead early, had three productive middle innings and recorded a big 12-1 win against Amsterdam Pirates to remain unbeaten in the exhibition season. For Pirates, which made some unnecessary defensive errors, this was its first loss in five games. Last season, the two teams faced each other in the Holland Series. Neptunus then won the first three games of the best-of-seven. But Pirates then wrote history by becoming the first team to win the next four games to win the Series and capture the Championship-title. From coming Thursday on, the two teams will face each other in the opening 3-game series of the regular season. ...Benjamin Dille had three basehits, including two doubles... ...and scored three runs for Neptunus... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) Neptunus collected 18 basehits off of three pitchers, including three by Stijn van der Meer, Darryl Collins and Benjamin Dille. Pirates was limited to only four basehits by two pitchers. Neptunus opened the score with two runs in the top of the second inning off of starter Jim Ploeger. With one out and Collins (single) and Dille (fielder's choice) on second and third base after a wild pitch, Jarreau Martina batted in the first runner with a basehit. A grounder by Greg Muller led to the second run. In the third inning, three runs were added. With one out, Dille and Martina hit back-to-back doubles to put runners on second and third base. Next, the bases were loaded when Muller walked. After a wild pitch enabled Dille to score, the bases were re-loaded when Quintin De Cuba (the tenth batter in the Neptunus batting order) also walked. Two runs were added when John Polonius followed with a double. Last season, Polonius played in Italy and made his debut in the Netherlands National Team during the European Championship in Germany. After the double by Polonius, Nick Veltkamp took over the Amsterdam-pitching and retired the next two batters. But the lefthander gave up two more runs in the fifth. Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a walk and scored on a double by Shaldimar Daantji. He went on to score the next run on a single by Collins. The next three batters were then retired. Another 3-run rally followed in the sixth. The inning began with a comeback line drive by Quintin De Cuba to Veltkamp, who was able to field the ball, then threw it sitting from the mound to first base in time to retire the batter. With one out, Polonius walked and Van der Meer singled, then Dwayne Kemp delivered an RBI-double. A sacrifice fly in foul territory by Boekhoudt and a single by Joran Berkhout lifted the lead to 10-0. The scoring wasn't over yet for Neptunus, as two more runs were added in the seventh inning. This time, Dille (lead-off double) and Martina (error) respectively scored on a sac-fly by Muller and a single by Van der Meer. And how did Amsterdam Pirates do today? The team left a runner behind on second base in the first inning off of starter Orlando Yntema, who threw six solid innings. With one out in the second inning, Kit Gijsbers singled and moved on a wild pitch. Next batter Roelie Henrique walked. But hereafter, Gijsbers was back too late at second base when a line drive by next batter Gilmer Lampe was caught by third baseman Van der Meer. Pirates also got into scoring position in the fourth and fifth inning. With two outs in the fourth, Delano Selassa doubled, but stranded. In the fifth, Niels van Weert led off with a walk, but was forced out on a grounder by rookie Jair van Borkulo. He moved to second base on a wild pitch with two outs, but also was left behind. Pirates scored its lone run in the seventh off of new pitcher Aaron de Groot. Selassa led off with a walk and advanced on a wild pitch. With one out, he scored on a single by Van Weert, but De Groot then closed by striking out the next two batters. In the bottom of the eighth, the home-team got two more baserunners. With one out, Lampe walked and with two outs, Kenny Berkenbosch singled. A flyout then ended the inning and the game.

...Jim Ploeger and Orlando Yntema were the starting pitchers in Amsterdam... (© Both Photos: Robert Bos) ...Left: Amsterdam Pirates Head Coach Michael Duursma looks on from the dug-out... ...Right: Amsterdam Pirates 3B Rashid Gerard eliminates a batter from Neptunus... (© Both Photos: Robert Bos) ...Nick Veltkamp and Mike Groen pitched in relief for Amsterdam Pirates... (© Both Photos: Robert Bos) ...Left: Aaron de Groot pitched in relief for Neptunus... ...Right: Richard Wessel was the Field Umpire... (© Both Photos: Robert Bos)

L&D Amsterdam Pirates - Curaçao Neptunus 1-12 (8 inn.) R H E Curaçao Neptunus 020 323 20 - 12 18 1 L&D Amsterdam Pirates 000 000 10 - 1 4 3 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Orlando Yntema, W (2-0) 6 5 2 2 - - Aaron de Groot 2 3 2 2 1 1 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Jim Ploeger, L (0-1) 3.1 4 3 8 5 5 Nick Veltkamp 3.2 1 2 8 7 5 Mike Groen 1 - - 2 - - Umpires: HP-Winfried Berkvens, 1B-Richard Wessel. Official Scorer-Sten Wessel. Public Address Announcer-Richard de Wolff. Scoreboard Operator-Jolande. Starting Time-2:01 PM. Time Played-2:29 hrs. Site-Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam. Game Notes: Game 4, In Memoriam Charles Urbanus Sr Tournament 2020. Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 24° C (75,2° F); wind direction south-southwest; wind speed 18 kmh (11,2 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 57%.

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