(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM -
Coming Thursday-afternoon (May 26), the eighth round of 3-game series gets underway in the Dutch big league.
This is the second-to-last series of the first half of the season, which ends on Sunday, June 5.
Normally, the games on Thursday are played in the evening, but not this time, as it is Ascension Day.
This is national holiday and so, the opening-games of the upcoming series are scheduled to be played in the afternoon.
After completion of the first half, the season is briefly halted.
From Tuesday, June 7 through Saturday, June 11, reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates and Curaçao Neptunus will participate in the European Champions Cup-tournament, which will be organized in Bonn (Germany).
The other seven teams in the big league have no games scheduled in that period, unless they have to play make-up games.
The second half of the season opens onThursday, June 16.
In the second half, the top-four from the first half will play 18 more games (six games against each other).
The bottom-five teams will continue in their own pool, playing twelve games (three games agaianst each other).
The teams will take the head-to-head results against the teams they face in the second half with them to these new pools.
The ranking in the second half will determine in which of the best-of-three Wild Card Play-Offs the teams will participate thereafter.
The two best teams will face each other in the best-of-three Wild Card Top Series and also secure a spot in the best-of-five Play-Offs that will decide which two teams will advance to the Holland Series.
The teams that finish in third and fourth place will play in the best-of-three Wild Card Bottom Series.
The two best teams from the Bottom-5 Pool will play a best-of-three Wild Card Qualifier to decide whom they will meet in the Wild Card Bottom Series.
The winners of the Wild Card Bottom Series then advance to the Play-Offs.
In the previous 3-game series, HCAW, Curaçao Neptunus and L&D Amsterdam Pirates, the current top-3 in the first half of the season, all secured a spot in the Top-4 Pool.
HCAW qualified for the Pool last Thursday, Neptunus and Pirates both clinched last Sunday.
In the remainder of the first half, there are several ties possible, but based on the head-to-head results and eliminations of teams in cases of a tie ranking, Neptunus and Pirates will play in the Top-4 Pool.
In the final two series of the first half, it will be decided what the ranking of the top-3 will be, as it will be an interesting two weeks.
HCAW is currently still unbeaten, have won all their 18 games, but now, the Bussum-team first will meet defending champion Pirates, then meets Neptunus in the next series.
That leaves one spot open and there are still four teams in contention for the fourth place.
As of now, Twins Oosterhout is in fourth place, closely followed by DSS/Kinheim and RCH Memorie Sieraden.
In the upcoming series, Twins is the team that has no games scheduled, while DSS/Kinheim and RCH face each other.
Next week, in the final series of the first half, Twins and DSS/Kinheim will face each other in a 3-game series and RCH will be the team that has no games on its schedule, due to the odd total of teams in the highest league.
The fourth that still has a small chance to reach the Top-4 is Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Beneath are the announced starters for the games in the upcoming series.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
(May 25)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| Roster | HCAW (18-0) | vs. |
L&D AMSTERDAM PIRATES (13-4-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 45 | LHP Jim Ploeger (4-0) | 1 | 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (3-0) | Th. May 26, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (4-0) | 2 | 64 | RHP Shairon Martis (2-0) | Sa. May 28, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (2) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (6-0) | 3 | 32 | RHP Scott Prins (1-0) | Su. May 29, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| (1) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum; (2) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (15-3) | vs. |
SILICON STORKS (2-16) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers Storks |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 45 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (5-0) | 1 | 16 | RHP Darryl Jamoena (0-6) | Th. May 26, 1:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| 27 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (4-1) | 2 | 25 | RHP Twan Naessens (0-3) | Sa. May 28, 2:30 PM, The Hague (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 31 | RHP Mike van den Berg (1-4) | Su. May 29, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| (3) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (4) - Sportpark 'Kijkduin', The Hague |
| Roster | DSS/KINHEIM (9-9) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (8-13) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (3-1) | 1 | 41 | RHP Jeremy Young (2-2) | Th. May 26, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (5) |
| | to be decided | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. May 28, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (6) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. May 29, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (5) |
| (5) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem; (6) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| Roster | HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (5-12-1) | vs. |
QUICK AMERSFOORT (2-15-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers Quick |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 31 | RHP Benjamin Meyer (1-4) | 1 | 22 | RHP Deef van Leersum (0-0) | Th. May 26, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (7) |
| 35 | RHP T'sean Martina (2-0) | 2 | 19 | RHP Wally Vrolijk (0-2) | Sa. May 28, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (8) |
| 6 | RHP Yassir Lachkar (0-2) | 3 | 5 | RHP Stijn Bruins Slot (0-5) | Su. May 29, 1:00 PM, Hoofddorp (7) |
| (7) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (8) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort |
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