www.grand-slam.nl	Baseball
	Headlines

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2021 by Marco Stoovelaar

(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Twins Oosterhout records convincing opening-win vs. HCAW Nederlands BUSSUM (Neth.) - Twins Oosterhout opened the 2021 season on Friday-evening (April 30) with a convincing 8-3 victory against HCAW. Twins struck in the second inning with a 4-run rally to take an early and decisive lead in the game that ended after eight complete innings due to the curfew-rule. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday-evening, but then, it was one of three games that were cancelled due to weather conditions. It had been raining sometimes steadily until the early afternoon in several parts of the country. From 3 PM on, games in Amsterdam, Bussum and Amersfoort were cancelled and re-scheduled for tonight. In the lone game that was played on Thursday, Curaçao Neptunus shutout Silicon Storks, 8-0. The second game of the 3-game series will be played on Saturday in Oosterhout at 2 PM. Game 3 will be played on Sunday in Bussum at 2 PM. The 2021 season was initially scheduled to open on Thursday, April 8, but the start was postponed to today, due to the measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The 2021 season is the 100th in the highest Dutch baseball-league, since there was a first small competition set-up in 1922. Back then, Quick Amsterdam captured the first Championship-title. The team that wins the title this year will be the 99th season. Last year, after an abbreviated season, Amsterdam Pirates led 2-0 in the Holland Series against Curaçao Neptunus. Because of new and stricter measures against the coronavirus, the best-of-seven ended abruptly and didn't resume. It was decided that there would be no champion in 2020. Therefore, Amsterdam Pirates is still the reigning champion after capturing the title in 2019 when it also faced Neptunus in the Holland Series. Pirates then became the first team in history to win the final four games after having lost the first three. (April 30)

Tonight's 8-3 loss wasn't something HCAW would have expected to start the new season. Especially with its new pitching-ace Lars Huijer as starting pitcher. But Twins Oosterhout struck with a 4-run rally in the top of the second inning to take an early lead. And from there, the team hold onto the lead and also had a productive fifth at bat, scoring three more runs. After being retired in order in the first inning, Twins had a productive second at bat, as the first seven batters all reached base. The bases got loaded quickly. Shurman Marlin and Ruendrick Piternella led off with singles, then Luuk Visser was hit by a pitch. Hereafter, Lars Huijer also hit Jarreau Martina with a pitch, which gave the team from Oosterhout its first run. Diamond Silberie followed with a runscoring single and when that was followed by an outfield-error, another run was added. A fielder's choice-grounder by Jerzy van Gool didn't result in an out, but it enabled Martina to score the fourth run in the at bat. Twins got the bases loaded again when a grounder by next batter Rayshelon Carolina also ended up with no outs. Still with no outs, Huijer struckout the next two batters and a line drive by Shurman Marlin was caught, but HCAW trailed 4-0. HCAW got two runs back in the third and fourth inning (both unearned) off of starter Koen Postelmans. In the third, lead-off hitter Christopher Ge reached on an error and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Rodney Daal. And in the fourth, it was Jules Cremer who led off and reached on an error. He went on to score on a single by Ge, but HCAW left three runners behind. In the top of the fifth, Twins added three runs. Again, the team got the bases loaded quickly. Shurman Marlin led off with a single, Ruendrick Piternella walked and Luuk Visser reached when Huijer made a fielding error on his sacrifice bunt. The first two runners then scored on a single by Jarreau Martina. After Visser was eliminated at the plate trying to score on an infield-grounder, Twins got the bases loaded again. Jasper Elfrink then took over the HCAW-pitching, but threw a wild pitch which enabled Martina to score the next run. HCAW managed to score another run in the sixth off of reliever Tyson Qualas. With one out, the American gave up a single to Berend Ruben and after striking the next batter, he got the bases loaded with a hit batter and a walk. Ruben then scored on a single by Rodney Daal. With the bases still loaded, Japanese righthander Shunta Oba became the new pitcher. He got an inning-ending flyout and was credited with the win.

HCAW - Twins Oosterhout 3-8 (8 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Twins Oosterhout 0 4 0 0 3 0 0 1 - 8 6 3 HCAW 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 - 3 8 3 (Game ended after eight complete innings due to the 10:30 PM curfew-rule) pitchers Twins Oosterhout inn. SO BB H R ER Koen Postelmans 4 4 2 4 2 - Tyson Quolas 1.2 3 2 2 1 1 Shunta Oba, W (1-0) 2.1 2 - 2 - - (Oba credited with the win based on Rule 9.17 b) pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER Lars Huijer, L (0-1) 4.2 5 3 6 7 6 Jasper Elfrink 3.1 3 3 - 1 1 Box Score Play-by-Play Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Rudsel Schoobaar, 1B-Aad Otsen, 3B-André Ficken. Official Scorer-Stefan Slinger. Play-by-Play Scorer-Rob Schuurman. Public Address Announcer-Huub Baaij. Scoreboard Operator-Nico van de Luitgaren. Starting Time-7:45 PM. Time Played-2:53 hrs. Site-Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum. Game Notes: Opening Night 2021 Season. Game started 15 minutes later, as the testing of the players took longer than scheduled. Game ended after eight complete innings, due to 10:30 PM curfew-rule. Tyson Quolas, Shunta Oba (both Twins Oosterhout) and Justin Bus (HCAW) make their debut in the Dutch big league. Shane Gnade (Pitching Coach HCAW) makes his debut as coach in the Dutch big league. Game was originally scheduled to be played on Thursday, April 29, but then was cancelled in the afternoon due to rain and field conditions and re-scheduled for tonight. Weather conditions at scheduled game time (7:30 PM): Overcast, 8° C (46,4° F); wind direction north-northwest; wind speed 13 kmh (8,1 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 83%. Weather conditions at game time (7:45 PM): Overcast, 8° C (46,4° F); wind direction north-northwest; wind speed 11 kmh (6,8 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 86%.

Thank you for visiting this site. Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl Copyright © 1997-2021 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.