(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (July 6), the opening-games are scheduled for the next 3-game series in both the Top-4 Pool and Bottom-5 Pool.
These two Pools (the second half of the regular season) end on Sunday, August 20.
Four days later, the Wild Card Series begin to determine en route to the Play-Offs and the Holland Series.
The teams in first and second place in the Top-4 Pool will face each other in the Wild Card Top Series and also secure a spot in the Play-Offs.
In the Wild Card Bottom Series, it will be determined which two teams will accompany them to the Play-Offs.
In the Top-4 Pool, all teams have now played a 3-game series against each other (total of nine games).
On Thursday, the second round of these series begins.
In total, the teams will face each other nine times (three 3-game series) in this round.
Curaçao Neptunus and HCAW head this Pool with a 6-3 record.
Last weekend, Amsterdam Pirates moved up closer by winning two of its three games against Neptunus.
In the third game, Pirates almost appeared to en route to a sweep, as the team led 4-1 at one moment, but Neptunus then turned the game around and won 6-4.
In that game, despite initially facing a deficit, starter Kevin Kelly became the first 10-game winner of the season.
HCAW swept RCH Memorie Sieraden, but had a tough opponent in the make-up game last Monday-evening.
HCAW then saw an apparent comfortable 8-1 lead being erased by the Heemstede-team, which came alongside and got the winning run on second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to bring the runner in.
HCAW went on to win 12-8 in ten innings.
In the Bottom-5 Pool, DSS/Kinheim swept Quick Amersfoort.
Afer Saturday's game rained out, the two teams decided to play a double-header on Sunday in Haarlem.
That came exactly one year after the last double-header was played in the big league.
On July 2 last year, DSS/Kinheim and Quick Amersfoort also faced each other in a double-header in Haarlem after a game had been cancelled.
Twins Oosterhout, which has no games in the upcoming series, won twice against UVV.
On Saturday, Twins failed to hold onto a 3-0 lead, as UVV turned the game around and took a 4-3 lead.
After Twins had come alongside in the ninth, UVV won the game moments later in the bottom of the ninth.
Hoofddorp Pioniers was the team that was off in the last series.
Like last week, the starting rotation for RCH-Pinguïns is not known at the moment.
As it was not clear whether or not righthander Jeremy Young will be suspended or not, a decision has not yet been made who will throw on what day.
In the previous series, Young started in the opener, then T'sean Martina started on Sunday and Mike van den Berg in the make-up game on Monday.
Also like last week, HCAW will announce its starters later.
That has to do with the injury of righthander Lars Huijer, who has not pitched after completion of the European Champions Cup-tournament on June 10.
HCAW's rotation in the last series was Gio de Graauw, Kaj Timmermans and Dennis Burgersdijk.
The latter started in Monday's make-up game.
On Thursday-afternoon, HCAW only announced its starter for the series-opener, which will be played in the evening.
Later in the evening, the starters for the weekend were also announced.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, July 6.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
Listed between the first parentheses is the record in the second half, listed in the second pair of parentheses is the record in the first half of the season.
(July 5-6)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | HCAW (6-3) (20-3-1) | vs. |
AMSTERDAM PIRATES (5-4) (16-7-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 14 | RHP Gio de Graauw (2-0) | 1 | 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (3-0) | Th. July 6, 7:30 PM, Bussum (1) |
| 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (5-1) | 2 | 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (4-3) | Sa. July 8, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (2) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (7-1) | 3 | 32 | RHP Scott Prins (2-1) | Su. July 9, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| (1) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum; (2) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (1-8) (12-11-1) | vs. |
CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (6-3) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns | G | # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | to be decided | 1 | 10 | LHP Ryan Huntington (2-1) | Th. July 6, 7:30 PM, Heemstede (3) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (5-2) | Sa. July 8, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (10-1) | Su. July 9, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (3) |
| (3) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede; (4) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (2-7) (6-17-1) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (8-1) (10-14) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 18 | RHP Sem Lauf (2-6) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (7-2) | Th. July 6, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (4-6) | Sa. July 8, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (6) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (3-1) | Su. July 9, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| (5) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (6) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | UVV (3-6) (3-19-2) | vs. |
QUICK AMERSFOORT (3-6) (5-19) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers UVV | G | # | Starting Pitchers Quick |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 10 | RHP Nik Cardinal (0-1) | 1 | 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (3-6) | Th. July 6, 7:30 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| 27 | RHP Sam van der Meer (0-7) | 2 | 52 | LHP Jhan Rifaela (2-6) | Sa. July 8, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (8) |
| 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (3-4) | 3 | 18 | LHP Brian van Laar (1-7) | Su. July 9, 3:00 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| (7) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten; (8) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort |
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