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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Rob Schuurman) Small wins Neptunus and Hoofddorp Pioniers on Day 2 Urbanus Tournament Nederlands BUSSUM / HOOFDDORP (Neth.) - Curaçao Neptunus and Hoofddorp Pioniers both recorded small victories on Saturday-afternoon (April 24) on Day 2 of the 39th In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament. In Bussum, Neptunus shutout host HCAW, 3-0, on seven basehits. This was HCAW's first exhibition loss. Playing at home in Hoofddorp, Pioniers recorded only one basehit, but nipped L&D Amsterdam Pirates, 2-1. Both games lasted just over two hours. In their tournament-openers on Thursday, Pioniers and Pirates both ended up empty-handed. Pioniers was then shutout 10-0 by HCAW and Pirates lost 6-3 to Neptunus. Pirates, which collected six basehits, has now lost all four exhibition games played so far. The final two games of the tournament will be played on Sunday. HCAW then plays at home against Amsterdam Pirates and Hoofddorp Pioniers travels to Rotterdam to meet Neptunus. Pirates is eliminated for first place, but the other three teams all have a chance to win the tournament and can even end up in a 3-way tie. (April 24) Related Article: HCAW and Neptunus open Urbanus Tournament with wins. (April 22)

HCAW vs. Curaçao Neptunus ...Official Scorers Dieks Bannink, Jeanette van Drunen,... ...Rob Schuurman and Rienette Hamers used the... ...game to prepare for the upcoming season... (© Photo: Rob Schuurman) Neptunus was retired in order in the first inning by starter Jim Ploeger, but then opened the score off of the lefthander in the second at bat by scoring two runs. Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a double, advanced on a single by Dudley Leonora and scored on a single by Dashenko Ricardo. After Leonora and Ricardo had executed a double-steal, Ploeger followed with a strikeout, but the first then scored the second run on a grounder by Gregory Muller. Ricardo stranded on third base. In the top of the third inning, John Polonius reached for Neptunus on an error, but hereafter, the first of five double plays was made. Three of them by the HCAW-defense. Neptunus was retired in order by Ploeger in the fourth inning, but then added another (unearned) run in the fifth. Quintin de Cuba led off with a walk, then advanced to third base when next batter Gregory Muller reached on an error. De Cuba then scored on a force play-grounder by Darnel Collins, which led to the elimination of Muller. Hereafter, HCAW turned its second double play. In its last four innings, Neptunus was held scoreless by three relievers. Bobbie Gnade took over in the sixth and retired the side. Nick Keur then took the mound in the seventh and got the bases loaded, but avoided giving up a run. It was the second inning in which Neptunus collected three basehits. In the second, that led to two runs, this time none. With one out, Dashenko Ricardo and Quintin de Cuba both singled. With two outs, Neptunus got the bases loaded when Darnel Collins also singled. The three runners were left behind, as the inning ended when Bob van der Meer flied out. For the record, two brothers were the lead-off hitters today. Bob van der Meer was the opening hitter for HCAW, his brother Stijn van der Meer batted first for Neptunus. In the eighth, John Polonius led off for Neptunus with a walk, but he became the victim of HCAW's third double play of the afternoon. Rookie Ruben Dekker closed the game for HCAW. He gave up a 2-out single to Quintin de Cuba, but he stranded on first base. HCAW got only two scoring opportunities. The team was retired in order in the first two innings by Neptunus-starter Orlando Yntema. In the third at bat, Kevin Dirksen led off with a walk, but with one out, the Neptunus-defense then turned its first double play. With one out in the fourth, Linoy Croes (who was the 11th batter in the batting order) singled. Moments later, Neptunus turned another double play. HCAW then got its first scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fifth, while trailing 3-0. With one out, Rodney Daal singled and advanced on a wild pitch with two outs, but was left behind. In the sixth, off of reliever Kevin Kelly, HCAW got its second and last runner in scoring position. With two outs, Berend Ruben and Julian Goins both singled. The inning then ended when Goins (who last season played for Neptunus) was picked off first base by catcher Gianison Boekhoudt. Kelly retired the side in the seventh and eighth inning, then HCAW got its final baserunner in the bottom of the ninth off of closer Kevin Bakker. With two outs, he walked Kevin Dirksen, but a pop-fly then ended the game.

HCAW - Curaçao Neptunus 0-3 (9 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Curaçao Neptunus 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 3 7 0 HCAW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 2 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Orlando Yntema, W (1-0) 5 5 1 2 - - Kevin Kelly, H (2) 3 - - 2 - - Kevin Bakker, SV (1) 1 - 1 - - - pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER Jim Ploeger, L (1-1) 5 2 1 3 3 2 Bobbie Gnade 1 - - - - - Nick Keur 2 - 1 3 - - Ruben Dekker 1 - - 1 - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-John Beltman, 1B-Rudsel Schoobaar. Official Scorers-Dieks Bannink, Jeanette van Drunen, Rienette Hamers, Rob Schuurman. Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-2:09 hrs. Site-Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum. Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 3 In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 12° C (53,6° F); wind direction north-northeast; wind speed 21 kmh (13 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 51%.

Hoofddorp Pioniers vs. L&D Amsterdam Pirates The game between Hoofddorp Pioniers and Amsterdam Pirates remained scoreless in the first five innings. It was a game with a rare outcome. Not that Pioniers nipped Pirates 2-1, but the fact that the team recorded only one basehit, which was not involved in scoring the two runs. Pirates collected six basehits, but scored only once. Pirates got a chance to open the score in the top of the third off of starter Ryan Huntington. The lefthanded Aruba again had a fine outing and kept the reigning champon scoreless. Huntington retired the first eight batters he faced, but he got the bases loaded in the third. With two outs, Max Clarijs walked, Roelie Henrique singled and Kalian Sams also walked. The three were left behind, as Gilmer Lampe flied out. In the next three at bats, Pirates didn't get into scoring position off of Huntington. In the fourth, Denzel Richardson led off with an infield-hit, but was forced out on a grounder by Kenny Berkenbosch, who stranded on first base. With two outs in the fifth, Roelie Henrique singled, but was caught stealing. And in the sixth, Kalian Sams led off with a walk, but then eliminated in a double play. Hereafter, there was some confusion when next battter Denzel Richardson hit a high pop-fly near the rightfield-line. Richardson raced to second base, where he was ruled safe by Home Plate Umpire Richard Wessel, who himself also had ran across the diamond to make the call. However, moments later, 1B Umpire Bernard Flohr, who had ran towards rightfield, put up his arms in the arm, signaling is has been a foul-ball. Head Coaches Mervin Gario (Pioniers) and Michael Duursma (Pirates) both came out to ask for an explanation of the ruling. Two pitches later, Richardson flied out. Tom de Blok also did well in his first pitching-appearance of the season for Pirates. The righthander pitched professionally in the Minor League for Detroit Tigers in 2017-2019. In those three seasons, De Blok pitched in 64 games (51 starts) and was 11-21 with a 3.91 ERA. When the entire Minor League-season was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus, De Blok returned to Pirates for whom he then pitched. He became a Free Agent in November. De Blok began with a strikeout in the bottom of the first inning, but then saw Raul Jacobs reach second base on a throwing error on his bunt. Jacobs stole third base, but then was eliminated at the plate when he tried to score on a comeback-grounder by Tyler Boersma. Pioniers got into scoring position again in the third. With one out, Nathan Berkel then walked and stole second. With two outs, Raul Jacobs also walked. Hereafter, Tom de Blok struckout his third batter in the inning and his fifth in the game. The righthander retired the side in the fourth. Robyn Clara took over the Pirates-pitching in the fifth. With one out, he gave up a single to Jeldwin Orman, who was caught stealing moments later. Orman's single was the lone basehit for Pioniers this afternoon. Pioniers then opened the score in the bottom of the sixth off of Clara without hitting a basehit. Pinch-hitter Duncan Beljaards led off with a walk, then Clara made a throwing error on a following sacrifice bunt by Mark Smit. Pioniers got the bases loaded when Raul Jacobs also walked. Moments later, Beljaards scored on a fielder's choice-grounder towards third base by Tyler Boersma. However, this could have been a force out, but catcher Max Clarijs was standing besides the plate instead of being in touch with it when he received the ball from third baseman Emilson Haswell. Hereafter, Smit scored the next run when Duco Nuijten grounded to short stop Mick Vos and was eliminated in a close play at first base. Jacobs and Boersma were left behind on third and second base. Pirates was retired in order in the top of the seventh by Nathan Diaby. Trailing 2-0, Pirates cut the deficit in half off of rookie Lucas van der Schouw in the top of the eighth. Mick Vos led off with a double, then scored when next batter Rashid Gerard singled. The Pioniers-defense then avoided giving up more runs, as Gerard was forced out and a double play ended the at bat. Pirates got one more runner in scoring position in the top of the ninth off of new pitcher John Michael Halley. He gave up an one-out single to Denzel Richardson, who then stole second base, but Halley closed with two strikeouts.

Hoofddorp Pioniers - L&D Amsterdam Pirates 2-1 (8½ inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E L&D Amsterdam Pirates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 6 2 Hoofddorp Pioniers 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 X - 2 1 0 pitchers Amsterdam Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Tom de Blok 6 5 3 - - - Robyn Clara, L (0-1) 2 2 2 1 2 1 Kevin Geestman 2 2 - - - - pitchers Hoofddorp Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER Ryan Huntington, W (2-0) 6 4 3 3 - - Nathan Diaby, H (1) 1 1 - - - - Lucas van der Schouw, H (1) 1 - - 2 1 1 John Michael Halley, SV (1) 1 2 - 1 - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Richard Wessel, 1B-Bernard Flohr. Official Scorers-Huub Nelissen, Sten Wessel. Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-2:15 hrs. Site-ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp. Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 4 In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 13° C (55,4° F); wind direction north-northeast; wind speed 19 kmh (11,8 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 51%.

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