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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Hoofddorp Pioniers wins first 'dry' game against Quick Amersfoort Nederlands HOOFDDORP (Neth.) - Hoofddorp Pioniers won 8-1 against Quick Amersfoort on Sunday (August 30) in what was the first game of their 3-game series that could be completed. It was a very windy day in Hoofddorp, but it was dry most of the game. Well, not entirely, as there was some drizzling now and then, but not enough to halt the game. On Thursday-evening, the opening game, which was scheduled to be played in Amsterdam, was cancelled in the afternoon due to the field-conditions after a brief, but heavy rain-shower. The game was re-scheduled for Friday-evening, this time in Haarlem. Again, the game rained out, this time due to heavy rain some 1½ hours before the scheduled starting time. That game is now scheduled for coming Monday-evening in Amersfoort. On Saturday, the next game was halted with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning due to rain. Shortly thereafter, the umpiring crew ended the game. The status of that game will be determined by the league's office. Some fifteen minutes after the umpires had ordered to do some maintenance work on the field, reports state that home-team Quick Amersfoort had done nothing to prepare the field. At that moment, the umpiring crew halted the game. With that, it didn't make it a game that was halted by rain, but was halted due to an umpiring's decision. Today, Pioniers broke an 1-1 tie with a 4-run rally in the fifth inning, then added three more runs in the seventh to win its fifth consecutive game. Quick's lone run was a homerun by former Major Leaguer Roger Bernadina. Pioniers collected twelve basehits, including three by Max Draijer and Joey Eeman, who both also scored twice and batted in a run. Eeman's hits were a single, double and triple, meaning he only missed the homerun to hit for-the-cycle. Victor Draijer got only one basehit today, but that was enough to extend his hitting streak. On Saturday, he had two basehits in the halted game, but since that game has no status yet, the stats are not included yet and so, his hitting streak now stands at fifteen games. It are very busy days for Pioniers, which also has another make-up game scheduled for coming Tuesday (in Heemstede) against Silicon Storks. That game was postponed some weeks ago due to a case of the coronavirus. Today's game was played again at Field #2 of the Pioniers-complex in Hoofddorp, as the main-field is still being worked on. In April, it was announced that the field was unplayable due to the massive presence of leatherjackets or grubs. These are the larvae of the crane fly that can grow up to 5 cm long, live in the ground under the grass and feed on grass. They gnaw the grass roots. The Municipality of Haarlemmermeer has sprayed the fields in an environmentally friendly way, with nematodes that kill the larvae in a natural way. The grassy part of the main baseball field was then excavated, smoothed again and sown again. Back then, it was expected that the field would be playable again in mid-June. Hoofddorp Pioniers plays its home-games in the day at Field #2 of the site in Hoofddorp. However, as that field has no light-installation, the team plays on another site when it plays at home in the evening. Yesterday, Pioniers was at its seventh different location in ten days to play a game, which didn't include its own home-field. It is hoped that the team can move back to its main-field in the first weekend of September. (August 30)

As mentioned, it was a very windy day today, as there was a strong wind towards rightfield. A combination of the wind, but also the strength of the batter, gave Quick Amersfoort an early lead in the top of the first inning. Roger Bernadina led off for Quick and he drilled the second delivery from Pioniers-starter Scott Prins over the rightfield-fence. For Bernadina, this was his first basehit since joining Quick less than a week ago. In his first game last Tuesday, Bernadina was 0-for-4 (two strikeouts, grounded-into-double-play) against Curaçao Neptunus. The opener against Pioniers then rained out on Thursday and Friday. Yesterday, he was 0-for-1 (strikeout, walk) in the game against Pioniers that was halted because of rain in the fifth inning. The 36-year old Bernadina played in 548 Major League-games in a 7-year period (2008-2014) for four different clubs. In those games, the outfielder belted 28 homeruns. The homerun he hit today was his first in the Dutch big league. He earlier played the highest division in the Netherlands in 2001-2002 for Sparta-Feyenoord. But back then, only one of his 28 basehits was an extra-basehit (a double) in the 33 games he played for the Rotterdam-based team. With Bernadina's homerun, Quick took an early lead, but it was to be the lone run the team scored today. Pioniers answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the first inning off of Colin van Laar. With two outs, Max Draijer and Joey Eeman both singled, which led to runners on first and third base. Next batter Nathan Berkel also singled to bring in Draijer and make it an 1-1 score. Eeman and Berkel advanced on a passed ball, but then were left behind on second and third base. Quick was held scoreless in the remainder of the game, but Pioniers also was unable to score in the next three innings. Quick got into scoring position in the top of the third. Jordy Burger and Roger Bernadina singled. With one out, the two advanced on a grounder, but were left behind. Pioniers got only one baserunner in the second through fourth inning. With one out in the third, Victor Draijer singled to keep his hitting streak alive. He stranded on first base. In the top of the fifth, Quick got a chance to break the 1-1 tie. With one out, Roger Bernadina reached on an error and Ademar Rifaela singled. Like Bernadina, Rifaela has a professional background. He joined Quick two weeks ago. Rifaela was forced out on a grounder by Rachid Engelhardt, then the inning ended with a flyout. Pioniers struck with a 4-run rally in the bottom of the fifth on four basehits. Colin van Laar walked lead-off hitter Jaison Gijsbertha, who then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Raul Jacobs and a single by Mark Smit. After the latter had stolen second base, Gijsbertha scored the go-ahead run on a grounder by Victor Draijer. Hereafter, Max Draijer and Joey Eeman delivered back-to-back runscoring doubles. Moments later, Eeman scored the fifth run in the ining when Nathan Berkel reached on an error. Next batter Duco Nuijten singled, but a grounder ended the bat. But Pioniers now led 5-1. Quick got only two baserunners in the final four innings. The first of them was Taylor Clemensia, who singled with two outs in the sixth, but he stranded on first base. Pioniers got the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but was unable to score. With Jaison Gijsbertha (error) and Raul Jacobs (hit by pitch) on base, Victor Draijer walked with one out. Jan-Willem Geerts then took over the pitching and the inning ended when Max Draijer grounded into a double play. Pioniers then added three runs in the bottom of the seventh off of Geerts. Joey Eeman led off with a triple and scored on a following double by Nathan Berkel, who then scored when next batter Duco Nuijten singled. That resulted in two runs. With one out, Nuijten scored the next run on a grounder by Jaison Gijsbertha to lift the lead to 8-1. Quick got its final baserunner in the top of the ninth inning off of Nick Loos, who took over the pitching from Scott Prins. In the eight innings he threw, Prins struckout nine batters and walked only one. Loos gave up a lead-off double to Emeron Lourens. He stranded on second base, as a flyout, groundout and pop-fly ended the inning and the game.

Hoofddorp Pioniers - Quick Amersfoort 8-1 R H E Quick Amersfoort 100 000 000 - 1 8 2 Hoofddorp Pioniers 100 040 30X - 8 12 1 pitchers Quick inn. SO BB H R ER Colin van Laar, L (1-3) 5.1 2 2 8 5 4 Jan-Willem Geerts 2.2 1 - 4 3 3 pitchers Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER Scott Prins, W (3-1) 8 9 1 7 1 1 Nick Loos 1 - - 1 - - Homerun: Quick: Roger Bernadina (1)(1st,solo,0 outs,off Prins). Box Score Play-by-Play Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Winfried Berkvens, 1B-Stenar van Groningen Schinkel, 3B-Jos van Eijsden. Official Scorer-Suus Tanke. Play-by-Play Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Technical Commissioner-Peter Brink. Public Address Announcer-Jason Houtkamp. Scoreboard Operator-Jeroen Kok. Starting Time-1:04 PM. Time Played-2:36 hrs. Site-Field #2, ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp. Game Notes: This game was scheduled for Sunday, April 26 in the original schedule, but was annulled on March 23 by the KNBSB due to measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19). Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 18° C (64,4° F); wind direction north; wind speed 37 kmh (23 mph); wind force 5 Bft; humidity 75%.

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