Almost sixteen hours after recording a small 7-5 win against Great Britain in the Quarter Final, the Netherlands started the Semi-Final against Spain, which ended with a narrow escape.
The Netherlands turned an early 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead in the third inning and took some more distance in the fourth.
However, a 4-run difference (7-3) after four innings was far from securing the win, even when two more insurance runs were added in the eighth.
Spain, which was held scoreless in the fourth through seventh inning, had a strong comeback, scoring five runs in its last two at bats.
With that, Spain not only narrowed the deficit to 9-8, but even had both the tying run and winning run base when the game ended!
The Netherlands left ten runners behind in today's game and made three defensive errors.
Spain made no errors and stranded six runners.
The Netherlands also collected twelve basehits off of six pitchers, who all were born outside Spain (two in Cuba, one in the Dominican Republic, three in Venezuela).
Eight of the nine batters in the Orange batting order had at least one basehit, including three by Ray-Patrick Didder.
Roger Bernadina and Jiandido Tromp both scored three runs, Sharlon Schoop and Dashenko Ricardo both batted in three runs.
The Orange Team faced a quick deficit, as the first two Spanish batters scored in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Mike Bolsenbroek.
Engel Beltré Concepción led off with a walk and next batter Edison Valerio Abreu hit the ball over the leftfield-fence for a homerun.
A flyout followed and Bolsenbroek struckout the next two batters, but Spain had set the tone.
The Netherlands faced Cuban-born starter Carlos Sierra Alvarez, who pitched professionally in the Houston Astros-organization in 2016-2018 (Rookie League, Single-A, Double-A).
The 26-year old righthander also played in three Puerto Rico Winter League-seasons (2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020).
...Sharlon Schoop...
...2-for-4, 1 run, 3 RBI's...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the first inning, Sierra struckout Roger Bernadina, but gave up a 2-out single to Ray-Patrick Didder, who then stranded on first base.
With a 2-0 lead, Sierra got two baserunners in the second at bat, but also struckout two more batters.
After Dashenko Ricardo had flied out, Sierra struckout Dwayne Kemp.
The Orange Team then got on base again with two outs, as Junior Martina and John Polonius both walked.
Sierra then closed by striking out Calten Daal.
But in the top of the third inning, Sierra ran into problems, as the Netherlands staged a 5-run rally, which in the end proved to be decisive.
Jiandido Tromp led off with a single, then Roger Bernadina walked.
With one out, Sharlon Schoop delivered a runscoring single.
With runners at the corners, Dashenko Ricardo connected well and hit a 3-run homerun to put the Netherlands ahead, 4-2.
With that, Ricardo got the GameWinning RBI, a statistic that is no longer in use.
It also led to a pitching change, as Ernesto Pino Mesa, who also is a Cuban-born player, took over.
Earlier this year, the righthander completed his third college-season in the baseball-team of St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida (USA).
Pino was greeted with a single by Dwayne Kemp, who tried to stretch his hit into a double, but ended up short at second base and was eliminated.
Hereafter, now with two outs, Junior Martina singled, then scored on a double down the leftfield-line by John Polonius.
With a 5-2 lead, Kevin Kelly took over the Orange-pitching in the bottom of the third inning and gave up an unearned run.
Kelly struckout lead-off hitter Engel Beltré Concepción, then next batter Edison Valerio Abreu hit the ball into rightfield for an apparent flyout.
However, it appeared that rightfielder Ray-Patrick Didder misjudged the ball, tried to make a diving catch, but ended up short and so, Valerio reached first base on this error.
Hereafter, Kelly got the bases loaded when he walked Oscar Angulo Gamez and hit Jesus Ustariz Luis.
Moments later, Valerio scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Jimenez Cruxent, which made it a 5-3 score.
Spain left two runners behind, as a pop-fly ended the at bat.
The Netherlands added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Jiandido Tromp led off with a walk, then Roger Bernadina reached on an infield-hit.
With two runners on base and no outs, Fernando Baez Aybar became the third pitcher for Spain.
The Dominican-born Baez plays in the Italian League since 2018, but before coming to Europe, the righthander pitched professionally in the organizations of St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays in 2012-2017 (Rookie League, Single-A, Double-A).
Baez was greeted with a runscoring single by Ray-Patrick Didder, then got the bases loaded when he walked Sharlon Schoop.
Still with no outs, Baez struckout Dashenko Ricardo.
Next batter Dwayne Kemp flied out, but that became a sacrifice fly, as Bernadina scored.
A foul pop-fly ended the at bat, but the Netherlands now led 7-3.
However, from the fifth inning on, the Orange Team was kept scoreless and was unable to take some more distance.
...Roger Bernadina scored three runs...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On the other hand, Spain was also held scoreless since the bottom of the fourth by Shairon Martis.
From this inning on, the former Major Leaguer retired nine of the ten batters he faced through the seventh inning.
The fifth inning ended with a nice play from first baseman Sharlon Schoop.
With two outs, Oscar Angulo Gamez hit a roller down the first base-line.
Moments before the ball appeared to roll towards foul territory, just in front of the base, Schoop fielded the ball on the line, while touching his base.
Slovak 1B Umpire Mojmir Jankovic made the correct call, signaling fair and so, Angulo was out and the inning ended.
After having retired eight batters in a row, the righthander got a baserunner with two outs in the sixth when Lesther Galvan Arevalo reached on an error, but he stranded on first base.
Martis then retired the side again in the bottom of the seventh.
The Orange-offense was silenced by Fernando Baez Aybar.
In the top of the fifth, he gave up a 2-out single to Jiandido Tromp, but he was left behind on first base.
After having retired the side in the sixth, Baez walked Junior Martina with one out in the seventh.
Andres Perez Padilla then took over the Spanish pitching and got a flyout from John Polonius.
The inning ended when Martina was forced out on a grounder by Calten Daal.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Netherlands added two insurance runs.
First, Venezuelan-born Andres Perez Padilla walked lead-off hitter Jiandido Tromp.
Perez plays professionally since 2009.
The 30-year old righthander played in the organizations of the New York Mets (2009-2013, Rookie League) and Los Angeles Angels (2013, Rookie League, Single-A).
Since the 2013-2014 winter-season, Perez pitches in Venezuela.
After completion of the 2020-2021 season in Venezuela, Perez pitched in Mexico this year.
With Tromp on first base, a familiar pitcher took over from Perez, as Ricardo Hernandez Sanchez was inserted.
In 2014 and 2015, Hernandez played in the Dutch big league for Hoofddorp Pioniers.
The 33-year old Venezuelan-born lefthander also has a long professional career in baseball.
He pitched in the Florida Marlins-organization (Rookie League, Single-A) in 2006-2009, but also played in Venezuela (2008-2019) and Italy (Nettuno, 2012 and 2019; Rimini, 2016-2018), before continuing his career in the Spanish Baseball League.
Hernandez got the bases loaded when he hit Jiandido Tromp with a pitch and gave up a single to Ray-Patrick Didder.
Sharlon Schoop followed with a 2-run single, which gave the Orange Team the two runs that proved to be the difference in the final outcome.
...Italian Marco Taurelli...
...was the HP Umpire...
...In 2018, the veteran...
...Umpire participated in the...
...Baseball Week Haarlem...
...in the Netherlands...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
With runners at the corners and no outs, another pitching change followed.
38-year old veteran Leslie Nácar Mejias took over and became the sixth foreign-born pitcher on the mound for Spain.
Nácar also was born in Venezuela.
He pitched in the organization of San Francisco Giants (2001-2003, Rookie League), then played in Venezuela (2003-2006).
Since 2006, the righthander mostly played in the Spanish Baseball League for Marlins Puerto Cruz on Tenerife.
Last year, Nácar played in Italy for Macerata and this season, he played for Panathinaikos in the Greek Baseball League.
In 2013, Nácar participated with Spain in the World Baseball Classic.
Since 2014, the veteran is one of the pitchers for Spain in European Championships.
The experienced Nácar showed that he is still one of the best Spanish pitchers, as he closed the eighth inning by striking out Dashenko Ricardo, Dwayne Kemp and Junior Martina.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Spain came back in the game by scoring three runs off of Shairon Martis.
The righthander gave up singles to Edison Valerio Abreu and Oscar Angulo Gamez, followed with a strikeout, then got a flyout.
But hereafter, Lesther Galvan Arevalo hit the ball into deep leftfield for a 3-run homerun, which made it a 9-6 score.
In the top of the ninth, Nácar retired the Orange-side, adding another strikeout.
A suspenseful bottom of the ninth inning followed, as Spain scored again, this time two runs off of closer Wendell Floranus.
He got two quick outs, but then gave up a single to Engel Beltré Concepción and walked Edison Valerio Abreu, two of the most productive hitters in the Spanish batting order.
Hereafter, Beltré scored when Oscar Angulo Gamez hit the ball into rightfield for a single.
Valerio was able to advance to third base when the throw back to the infield from rightfielder Ray-Patrick Didder ended up in the ground just in front of him for an error.
With runners now at first and third base, it was Jesus Ustariz Luis who delivered a runscoring single and Valerio scored his fourth run in the game.
That narrowed the deficit to only 9-8 with Angulo representing the tying run at second base and Ustariz representing the winning run at first base.
Next batter Daniel Jimenez Cruxent hit a no-so-easy grounder towards the left side of the infield.
There, short stop John Polonius reached, fielded the ball and got it in time to second baseman Calten Daal to force out Ustariz.
With that, the inning and the game ended after three hours and 31 minutes.
The Netherlands won 9-8, but it was a narrow escape.
The following players came into action for the Netherlands:
Jiandido Tromp (LF, 2-for-4), Roger Bernadina (CF, 1-for-3), Ray-Patrick Didder (RF, 3-for-5), Sharlon Schoop (1B, 2-for-4), Dashenko Ricardo (C, 1-for-5), Dwayne Kemp (DH, 1-for-4), Junior Martina (3B, 1-for-3), John Polonius (SS, 1-for-4), Calten Daal (2B, 0-for-5) and pitchers Mike Bolsenbroek, Kevin Kelly, Shairon Martis and Wendell Floranus.
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Netherlands in Final European Championship after narrow escape; Italy eliminated
TORINO / AVIGLIANA / SETTIMO TORINESE (Italy) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team has reached the all-deciding Final of the 36th edition of the European Championship, but it didn't come easy.
On Friday-afternoon (September 17), the Orange Team qualified for the Final by winning only 9-8 in a suspenseful Semi-Final against Spain, which had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Netherlands initially (again) faced an early deficit against Spain.
That came a day after the team briefly trailed against Great Britain in the Quarter Final on Thursday, which also was won with a small 7-5 score to advance to the Semi-Final.
39th international game of the Netherlands against Spain.