UVV had two rallies in today's game.
The team scored four runs in the second inning and five in the fourth at bat.
But the highlight of today's game was the pitching-performance of Jurjen van Zijl.
The veteran righthander, who turned 38 last month, dominated and was a pitching a Perfect Game through the top of the seventh.
But after having retired nineteen consecutive hitters, both the Perfect Game and No-Hitter ended when he gave up an one-out single.
As UVV was leading 11-0 at that moment, he was only two outs away from a piece of baseball-history.
UVV opened the score in the bottom of the first inning off of Sparks-starter Rutger Zwaal, who also was the starter in the opener on Thursday-evening.
He walked lead-off hitter Malcolm Marlin, who stole second base and moved to third base on a wild pitch.
With one out, Luke Oliphant also walked and Marlin then scored on a following grounder by Karl Hoschke.
...Jurjen van Zijl...
...almost Perfect...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
In the second at bat, the home-team rallied for four runs, three of them scored with two outs.
Daan Terstall led off with a single and stole second base.
With one out, Lucas Bekker walked and Daan Jansen followed with an RBI-double.
With two outs, Zwaal gave up a 2-run single to Ryan Wheat, who then went on to score himself when next batter Luke Oliphant singled.
And that made it a 5-0 score.
In the third inning, UVV was kept scoreless.
In this at bat, Daan Terstall doubled, but stranded on third base.
UVV added five more runs in the bottom of the fourth, but two of them were unearned.
Lead-off hitter Daan Jansen opened with a triple.
Hereafter, Malcolm Marlin walked and with one out, the bases got loaded when Luke Oliphant was hit by a pitch.
With three runners on base, Joffrey Heus took over the pitching for Sparks.
He was greeted with a 2-run double by Karl Hoschke.
With runners on second and third base, next batter Raoell Kortstam hit the ball into foul territory.
It could have been opted to let the ball drop for a foul ball.
But instead, the leftfielder caught the ball, Oliphant scored and so, Kortstam's hit became a sacrifice fly.
Moments later, Hoschke scored when a throwing error was made on a grounder by Daan Terstall.
The latter then scored all the way from first base on a following triple by Aaron Isenia.
He was left behind on third base, but UVV now led 10-0.
UVV scored its eleventh run in the bottom of the fifth.
Daan Jansen opened with a single, moved to second base on an infield-hit by Malcolm Marlin and he scored on a 2-out single by Karl Hoschke.
After Marlin and Hoschke had advanced on a wild pitch, UVV got the bases loaded when Raoell Kortstam was hit by a pitch.
They were all left behind, as third baseman Jesse van de Berg made a nice play on a grounder by Daan Terstall.
That ended the at bat, but UVV has added an 'insurance run' for the mercy-rule lead and now led 11-0.
As mentioned, Jurjen van Zijl dominated on the mound for UVV.
From the first inning on, the righthander retired 19 consecutive batters.
And there was more.
In the first six innings, except for two strikeouts, all outs were made in the infield!
There were eight grounders to second base, five to short and three back to Van Zijl.
In the top of the seventh, Jesse van de Berg accounted for the first outfield-out.
He hit the ball into centerfield, where Luke Oliphant made the catch.
This might have a signal that the Perfect Game was getting into jeopardy.
Moments later, the no-no indeed ended, as Ruben Hoek hit the ball into centerfield where it landed for the first Sparks-basehit.
That also ended Van Zijl's stay on the mound.
Sean Wout took over and got a force play-grounder from Kevin Nieveld.
Hereafter, the game ended when Duko Jansen flied out to leftfield.
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Pilot-Pool: UVV completes sweep vs. Sparks Haarlem; Jurjen van Zijl almost Perfect
VLEUTEN (Neth.) -
UVV shutout Sparks Haarlem 11-0 in 6½ inning on Sunday (August 28) to complete a 3-game sweep in the Major League/First Division Pilot-Pool.
UVV opened the series with a 10-4 win on Thursday, then won 18-8 on Saturday.
Quick Amersfoort outscored Silicon Storks 8-4 to also complete a 3-game sweep.
On Thursday, Quick won the first game with a 17-4 score, then nipped Storks 10-9 on Saturday.
Major League/First Division Pilot-Pool.