www.grand-slam.nl	Baseball
	Headlines

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2020 by Marco Stoovelaar

(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Robert Bos) Finale Neptunus vs. HCAW-series halted by rain Nederlands ROTTERDAM (Neth.) - The third meeting between Curaçao Neptunus and HCAW on Tuesday-evening (September 29) was halted in the top of the fourth inning due to heavy rain. At that moment, HCAW was leading 1-0. The game will be completed on Wednesday-evening. The original opener of the 3-game series was halted on Thursday-evening in the top of the second inning when a foul ball destroyed a lamp in one of the light-towers. At that moment, Neptunus had runners on first and third base with no outs in a scoreless game. The remainder of that game was re-scheduled for Friday-evening. As it was not possible to fix the light-installation in Bussum earlier that day, the game was moved to the site of Neptunus in Rotterdam, but then was cancelled due to rain and field-conditions. On Saturday, the original second game of the series, which was to be played in Rotterdam, also rained out. That game was then re-scheduled for tonight. On Sunday, Neptunus recorded a small 3-0 shutout-win. The halted game that began on Thursday was finally completed on Monday-evening. Neptunus won 9-2 to qualify for the Holland Series, which begins on October 10. Tonight's game was one of two that were played without spectators. On Monday-evening, the Dutch Government announced new stricter measures that came into effect on 6 PM today against the spread of the coronavirus. The other game tonight was played between L&D Amsterdam Pirates and HCAW. Pirates won 5-2, which meant that Pioniers is eliminated for the Holland Series. Initially, Neptunus was to play its first make-up game against Pirates tonight, but that game was moved to Thursday, October 8 to make room for the game against HCAW to keep that 3-game series intact. After completion of tonight's game on Wednesday, Neptunus has to wait one week to play its next game. The team will play two make-up games against Pirates on Tuesday and Thursday next week. Starting on Thursday, Pirates first will make up its 3-game series against HCAW. In tonight's game, Rudy Dirksen served as interim Head Coach of HCAW. He took over from Dè Flanegin, who stepped down effective immediately after completion of the game that was played on Monday-evening. Earlier today, it was reported by several sources that Flanegin stepped down due to a breach of trust with the club, as he was not informed that there was (or has been) a positive case of the coronavirus in the team of opponent Neptunus. (September 29)

HCAW had a productive start off of Neptunus-starter Diegomar Markwell, who gave up six basehits and one (unearned) run in the first three innings. Neptunus recorded only one basehit in the three at bats it got tonight. The batting order of HCAW had been adjusted by new Head Coach Rudy Dirksen. The regular lead-off hitter Jeandro Tromp was now listed in the ninth slot, while Berend Ruben was now penciled in as opening hitter. In most other games, Ruben batted somewhere between third and sixth in the batting order. Also, Patrick Bok and Rodney Daal moved up in the batting order and tonight batted second and third respectively. With one out in the top of the first inning, Rodney Daal singled, but Markwell then closed with a strikeout. In the second inning, HCAW scored an unearned run. Linoy Croes led off and reach on an error, as his pop-fly into short leftfield was dropped by short stop John Polonius. The bases got loaded when Kevin Dirksen singled and Bob van der Meer reached on a bunt-single. Hereafter, Croes scored when next batter Christopher Ge also singled. Markwell then struckout the next two batters and a force play ended the at bat, but HCAW had taken an 1-0 lead. HCAW-starter Dennis Burgersdijk was more successful. He gave up a lead-off single to Stijn van der Meer in the bottom of the first inning. He stranded on first base, as two flyouts and a strikeout followed. Burgersdijk then retired the side in the second inning, which included another strikeout and a catch on the warning track by leftfielder Arthur Bonevacia on a long fly by John Polonius. In the top of the third inning, it started to drizzle, but there was no reason at that moment to interrupt the game. Rodney Daal led off with a single, but then was eliminated in a double play on a grounder by Arthur Bonevacia. Next, Linoy Croes also singled, but he was forced out. In the bottom of the third inning, Neptunus reached base again. After having retired seven consecutive batters, Dennis Burgersdijk walked Quintin De Cuba. The inning ended when Stijn van der Meer grouded into a reversed double play. While it started to rain harder, the fourth inning went underway, but shortly after lead-off hitter Bob van der Meer grounded out, Home Plate Umpire Winfried Berkvens stopped the game due to a brief, but heavy rain-shower. While maintenance work was done at the field, it dried up a little. But some fifteen minutes later, the game was halted definitively when more rain followed. The remainder will be played on Wednesday-evening. To be continued.

...Umpires Peter de Haan (1B), Rob Has (3B) and Winfried Berkvens (HP) enter the field... ...Diegomar Markwell and Dennis Burgersdijk were the starting pitchers for Neptunus and HCAW... ...Left: Neptunus-pitcher Orlando Yntema (with face mask) looks on from the dug-out... ...Right: Linoy Croes returns during a pick-off while 1B Benjamin Dille waits for the ball in the 2nd inning... ...Moments later, Croes scores tonight's lone run... ...Left: Bob van der Meer reaches 1st base while 2B Dudley Leonora misses the ball in the 2nd inning... ...Van der Meer is credited with a bunt-single... ...Right: Christopher Ge is about to be forced out by 2B Dudley Leonora in the 2nd inning... ...Left: Leftfielder Arthur Bonevacia catches a long drive on the warning track from John Polonius in the 2nd inning... ...Right: Shaldimar Daantji gets out of the way of a high pitch in the 2nd inning... ...Rodney Daal is the catcher, Winfried Berkvens is the Home Plate Umpire... ...Left: Quintin De Cuba is tagged out by short stop Bob van der Meer to complete a double play in the 3rd inning... ...Right: HCAW's interim Head Coach Rudy Dirksen has a talk with Christopher Ge in the 4th inning... ...2B Dudley Leonora makes what would be the final out in tonight's game in the 4th inning... ...Moments later, the game was halted due to heavy rain... ...The HCAW-players (left) and Neptunus-coaches Jan Collins and Wim Martinus (right) look on during the rain-delay... ...Left: Neptunus-reliever Berry van Driel and Pitching Coach Elton Koeiman put down a tarpet on the home plate-area... ...Right: While the Umpires have a chat with some of the Neptunus-players, it starts to rain hard again... ...The field becomes unplayable and the game is halted in the top of the fourth... (© All Photos: Robert Bos)

Curaçao Neptunus - HCAW halted (top 4th, rain) R H E HCAW 010 000 000 - 1 6 0 Curaçao Neptunus 000 000 000 - 0 1 1 (Game halted in top 4th inning with one out due to rain) pitcher HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER Dennis Burgersdijk (pitcher-of-record) 3 3 1 1 - - pitcher Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Diegomar Markwell (pitcher-of-record) 3.1 3 - 6 1 - Final Standings Season Standings Top-4 Pool Standings Bottom-4 Pool Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Winfried Berkvens, 1B-Peter de Haan, 3B-Rob Has. Official Scorer-Jeanette van Drunen. Play-by-Play Scorer-Dieks Bannink. Technical Commissioner-Paul Bokern. Public Address Announcer-Hélène van Eijk-Kloos. Scoreboard Operator-Lex Looijen. Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:55 hrs. Site-Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam. Game Notes: Top-4 Pool. Home Plate Umpire Winfried Berkvens, 3B Umpire Rob Has and Technical Commissioner Paul Bokern were originally assigned as Home Plate Umpire, 3B Umpire and Technical Commissioner respectively for tonight's make-up game L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. Curaçao Neptunus, but when that game was moved to October 8, they were re-assigned for this game. Rudy Dirksen was the interim Head Coach tonight for HCAW, taking over from Dè Flanegin, who stepped down after the game played on September 28. Game halted at 8:25 PM in top 4th inning due to heavy rain with one out, no baserunners and HCAW leading 1-0. Game definitively halted at 8:40 PM, due to field-conditions and ongoing rain. Remainder of game re-scheduled for Wednesday-evening, September 30 at 7:30 PM in Rotterdam. Game was originally scheduled for Saturday, September 26, but then was cancelled due to rain and field-conditions and was re-scheduled for tonight. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 16,6° C (61,9° F); wind direction south; wind speed 6 kmh (3,7 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 77%.

Thank you for visiting this site. Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl Copyright © 1997-2020 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.