In Game 3 of the Holland Series, HCAW was outhit 7-3 by Neptunus.
HCAW got only five baserunners, Neptunus got nine.
However, it was HCAW that scored once, while Neptunus was kept scoreless.
When looking to runners in scoring position, HCAW got none.
The lone runner that briefly came into scoring position was Victor Draijer, which was when he touched second and third base while rounding the bases after hitting a homerun in the seventh inning.
Of the other four baserunners, one was picked off, one was caught stealing and one was eliminated in a double play.
The fourth one was left behind on first base.
Neptunus got three runners in scoring position, with two of them reaching third base, one in the first and one in the second inning.
Just as in Saturday's game, Neptunus got only one more runner in scoring position from the third inning on.
Saturday's Game 2 was a pitching-duel between Lars Huijer (HCAW) and Kaj Timmermans (Neptunus), who both threw a 9-inning complete game.
Today was another pitching-duel.
Kevin Kelly went the distance for Neptunus, Jim Ploeger threw eight innings for HCAW, then Canadian Jared Mortensen completed the game.
Kelly struckout eleven batters and gave up only three basehits, but ended up empty-handed, as he didn't got any run-support.
Ploeger struckout five batters and gave up five hits.
The lefthander avoided giving up a run in the first and second inning, then added six strong innings.
With that, Ploeger threw his second solid game in a row.
On August 21, Ploeger was the winning pitcher in the third game of the Play-Offs against L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
He then threw all 10 innings in a 4-2 come-from-behind win, throwing 149 pitches.
What was remarkable about that outing was that he pitching with a bruised rib.
A week later, HCAW won Game 4 of the Play-Offs to advance to the Holland Series.
Last week, no games were scheduled and so, the lefthander returned to the mound today for the first time since August 21.
But now, three weeks later, Ploeger had another fine outing and was the winning pitcher again.
HCAW immediately got on base in the top of the first inning, as Phildrick Llewellyn led off with a single.
Llewellyn joined the Bussum-team earlier in the week after he had completed his season in Germany where he played for Paderborn Untouchables.
The Curaçao-native didn't play in the opener on Thursday, then was the leftfielder in Saturday's Game 2.
Today, Llewellyn was the second baseman for HCAW, instead of regular Brendly Martina, who was slightly injured.
In Saturday's game, Martina got injured in the second inning during a collission with runner Roger Bernadina, who stole second base.
After being attended, Martina was able to continue and completed the game.
But today, out of precaution, the speedy runner was given the day off.
However, Llewellyn's stay at first base was very brief, as he was picked off moments later by Kevin Kelly.
Next batter Victor Draijer hit a line drive, but that was caught by short stop John Polonius.
Kelly then closed the at bat by striking out Jeandro Tromp.
From the second inning on, Kelly dominated on the mound for Neptunus.
Starting with Draijer's line out in the first inning, the righthander retired 16 consecutive batters!
With two outs in the top of the sixth, HCAW got its second baserunner in the game when Julian Goins singled.
During a pick-off attempt, Goins dove back in time to first base.
But the game had to be halted thereafter, as the base came off from its base in the ground.
Last Thursday, during the opener, the same happened.
It was pitcher Kevin Kelly who today fixed the base by putting it back in place.
When the game resumed, Goins was caught stealing moments later and that ended the at bat.
Neptunus came close to a run in both the first and second inning, but both times, a runner was left behind on third base.
In the bottom of the first inning, there again were some outs at the basepaths for Neptunus.
Stijn van der Meer led off with a walk, but with one out, he was caught stealing.
With two outs, HCAW-starter Jim Ploeger gave up a single to John Polonius.
Roger Bernadina followed with a single down the rightfield-line and immediately turned towards second base, while Polonius ran towards third base.
However, HCAW-rightfielder Victor Draijer got the ball quickly to first baseman Quintin de Cuba and Bernadina got into a rundown between first and second base.
At that moment, Polonius took off towards the plate, but the HCAW-defense eliminated Bernadina before he was able to score.
With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Dwayne Kemp singled.
Moments later, he stole second base, but Jim Ploeger struckout next batter Dashenko Ricardo.
Now with two outs, Kemp also stole third base.
He was left behind there, as Ploeger closed by striking out Christian Diaz.
Kemp was the last Neptunus-runner to reach third base.
Beginning with Ricardo's strikeout, Ploeger retired ten batters in a row.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, the lefthander gave up a single to Diaz, but he stranded on first base.
In the bottom of the sixth, Neptunus got its last runner in scoring position.
Stijn van der Meer led off with a bunt-single and with one out, he advanced to second base on a grounder by John Polonius.
A flyout ended the at bat.
With the game still scoreless, the seventh inning began.
Kevin Kelly began with a strikeout for Phildrick Llewellyn.
Hereafter, he came to a full count to next batter Victor Draijer.
After hitting a foul ball, Draijer connected well on the next pitch and drilled the ball over the leftfield-fence for a homerun!
It would account for the lone run in this game.
With two outs, Kevin Dirksen walked, but Kelly then struckout Quintin de Cuba to end the at bat and raise his total to eleven.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Neptunus got another baserunner, but only its third in the last five at bats when Dwayne Kemp singled.
The veteran player then tried to steal second base, but was caught stealing.
A grounder ended the at bat.
After both teams were retired in order in the eighth, both teams got baserunners again in the ninth.
With one out in the top of the ninth, Phildrick Llewellyn reached on a throwing error by short stop John Polonius.
What could have been a very crucial moment for HCAW followed.
Next batter Victor Draijer hit the ball into leftfield, where it was caught by Jiandido Tromp.
On contact, Llewellyn took off and ran over second base, but of course, as the ball had been caught, he had to return to first base and therefore, he had to re-touch second base.
When he ran back, it was first baseman Greg Muller (who had just entered the game), who immediately signaled to appeal.
Tromp threw the ball to second baseman Dwayne Kemp, who made stepped on the base to appeal and 2B Umpire Roy van de Wateringen raised his right arm to make the out-call, signaling that Llewellyn had not correctly had re-touched second base.
That completed an inning-ending double play.
1B Coach Jair Bogaerts and Head Coach Danny Rombley argued the call, but they got an explanation from both Van de Wateringen and 3B Umpire Olav Steijger regarding the ruling.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, it was Neptunus that argued a decision.
Jiandido Tromp led off with a single off of closer Jared Mortensen, who had taken over the pitching duties.
In an attempt to move Tromp into scoring position, next batter John Polonius turned for a bunt.
However, Polonius bunted the ball up in the air and it landed just inside (or very close to) the foul-line halfway first base, while first baseman Quintin de Cuba appeared to make an attempt to catch the ball.
Home Plate Umpire Edwin Louisa immediately gave the fair-signal and Polonius was tagged out by De Cuba.
That brought out Raily Legito and this time, it was the Neptunus Head Coach who got an explanation of the ruling from Louisa.
And so, Polonius was out, but Tromp stayed at first base, as the force play had been lifted.
Hereafter, Mortensen struckout Roger Bernadina.
He then got a force play-grounder from Junior Martina, which led to the elimination at second base of Tromp and ended the game.
With that, HCAW now leads 3-0 in the best-of-seven.
The Holland Series continues coming Saturday in Bussum.
Today's shutout was the 33rd in Holland Series-history, but only the fifth that finished with an 1-0 score.
The last time, an 1-0 shutout was recorded was on October 2, 2014 when Neptunus did it against Amsterdam Pirates.
But this was the first 1-0 game that was decided with a homerun.
By striking out eleven batters, Kevin Kelly became the fifth pitcher with 10 or more strikeouts in a complete 9-inning game during the Holland Series.
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HCAW shuts out Neptunus again to win third game in Holland Series
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
HCAW won only 1-0 against Curaçao Neptunus on Sunday-afternoon (September 11) to not only win it third game in a row, but also record its second consecutive shutout-victory in the best-of-seven Holland Series.
On Thursday-evening, HCAW nipped Neptunus with a 5-4 victory in the opener.
On Saturday, HCAW recorded a 2-0 shutout-win.
Game 4 will be played coming Saturday (September 17) in Bussum.
When needed, the fifth game will then follow the next day in Rotterdam.
In case, the Series continues after that, the next game will then be played on Saturday, September 24.
Best-of-Seven Holland Series 2022.