(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (August 3), the next 3-game series in both the Top-4 Pool and Bottom-5 Pool will begin.
However, just as last week, rain is expected on Thursday, especially in the morning and early afternoon with a rain-expectance of 95%.
Rain is also expected in the following days, Friday (80%), Saturday (100%), Sunday (95%) and Monday (85%).
Last weekend, a lot of rain also was expected, but only the games on Thursday were cancelled and moved to Friday.
All games on Saturday and Sunday could be played as scheduled.
In the Top-4 Pool, leader Curaçao Neptunus swept RCH Memorie Sieraden in three games and recorded double-figure scores each time, scoring twelve runs in the first and second game and nineteen in the third game.
In this last game, Neptunus belted six homeruns, which is the highest total in one game for a single team in many years.
With these wins, Neptunus also secured first place in this Pool, which means the team qualified for participation in next years European Champions Cup-tournament.
Amsterdam Pirates won two of its three games against reigning champion HCAW and barely missed a sweep.
HCAW is still in second place, but is only two points ahead of Pirates.
In the Bottom-5 Pool, Twins Oosterhout and DSS/Kinheim, the two leaders, met each other in the previous series.
DSS/Kinheim won the opener 6-3, Twins then won the next game in ten innings with the same score.
Unfortunately, the third game last Sunday in Oosterhout, had to be halted by the umpiring crew in the bottom of the fourth inning due to a bench-clearing brawl.
At that moment, Twins led with a 3-0 score.
In the opener, DSS/Kinheim-starter Martijn Schoonderwoerd became the second 10-game winner of the season.
He joins Neptunus-righthander Kevin Kelly, who leads the league with 14 wins.
Quick Amersfoort swept Hoofddorp Pioniers in its 3-game series.
In the second game, Pioniers trailed 12-2, but came back and later in the game, the score was 14-14.
Quick eventually won with a 16-15 score.
UVV had no games scheduled.
The pitching-rotations are set again for the upcoming series, except of course again for HCAW, which has not announced its starters since the conclusion of the European Champions Cup-tournament on June 10.
In the following weeks, the team announced its starters later due to the injury of righthander Lars Huijer, but he returned to the rotation two weeks ago.
Last week, the starters were not announced.
Quick Amersfoort also has not set its rotation yet for the upcoming series.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, August 3.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
Listed between the first parentheses behind the team-name is the record in the second half, listed in the second pair of parentheses is the record in the first half of the season.
(August 2)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (17-4) (20-3-1) | vs. |
HCAW (10-11) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (7-0) | 1 | | to be announced | Th. Aug. 3, 7:30 PM, Rottterdam (1) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Marttis (8-2) | 2 | | to be announced | Sa. Aug. 5, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (14-1) | 3 | | to be announced | Su. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| (1) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (2) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | AMSTERDAM PIRATES (11-10) (16-7-1) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (4-17) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (5-0) | 1 | 35 | RHP Mike van den Berg (1-2) | Th. Aug. 3, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| 32 | RHP Scott Prins (3-4) | 2 | 29 | RHP T'sean Martina (2-10) | Sa. Aug. 5, 3:00 PM, Heemstede (4) |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (6-3) | 3 | 5 | RHP Jeremy Young (4-11) | Su. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| (3) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (4) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | UVV (5-12-1) (3-19-2) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (15-5) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers UVV | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 36 | LHP Gijs van den Brink (0-3) | 1 | 55 | RHP James (JD) Scholten (1-1) | Th. Aug. 3, 7:30 PM, Vleuten (5) |
| 27 | RHP Sam van der Meer (1-8) | 2 | 8 | RHP Koen Postelmans (0-1) | Sa. Aug. 5, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (6) |
| 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (4-5) | 3 | 14 | RHP Filip Čapka (6-3) | Su. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (5) |
| (5) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten; (6) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | QUICK AMERSFOORT (8-9-1) (5-19) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (13-3-1) (10-14) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Quick | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | to be decided | 1 | 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (4-1) | Th. Aug. 3, 7:30 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (5-7) | Sa. Aug. 5, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (8) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (10-2) | Su. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| (7) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort; (8) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
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