(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (July 13), the next 3-game series begin in both the Top-4 Pool and Bottom-5 Pool.
As mentioned before, these two Pools form the second half of the regular season and 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, the teams in third and fourth place meet the numbers one and two of the Bottom-5 Pool to determine which other two teams will advance to the Play-Offs.
Last weekend, Amsterdam Pirates again had a good series.
After having won two of its three games against Curaçao Neptunus the week before, Pirates now won twice against reigning champion HCAW.
Neptunus, the current leader in the Top-4 Pool, lost its opener against RCH Memorie Sieraden, but then won the next two games.
In the Bottom-5 Pool, DSS/Kinheim and Quick Amersfoort won their first two games against respectively Hoofddorp Pioniers and UVV.
The final games of their series both were halted due to lightning, then heavy rain and ended in a tie.
The game between DSS/Kinheim and Pioniers in Hoofddorp was halted just after the start of the tenth inning and ended with an 1-1 score.
The game between Quick and UVV in Vleuten was stopped with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, just after UVV had come alongside.
As the game was not resumed anymore, the final score was 3-3.
Twins Oosterhout had no games scheduled.
In the upcoming round, DSS/Kinheim is the team that is off.
Like it has done since the completion of the European Champions Cup-tournament on June 10, HCAW again didn't announce its starting rotation yet.
According to the club that has to do with the injury of righthander Lars Huijer, who has been injured since completion of the tournament.
In the previous two series, Gio de Graauw, Kaj Timmermans and Dennis Burgersdijk were the starters for HCAW in that order.
The rotation for those series was the same and was announced a few hours before the start of the series-opener.
So, it can be expected that this also will be the rotation for the upcoming series, but a confirmation is expected on Thursday-afternoon.
And that is indeed what HCAW did.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, July 13.
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 12-13)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (8-4) (20-3-1) | vs. |
HCAW (7-5) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (5-0) | 1 | 14 | RHP Gio de Graauw (2-1) | Th. July 13, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (6-2) | 2 | 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (5-2) | Sa. July 15, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (11-1) | 3 | 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (8-1) | Su. July 16, 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 (7-5) (16-7-1) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (2-10) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (3-0) | 1 | 6 | RHP Chris Koeiman (0-0) | Th. July 13, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (5-3) | 2 | 29 | RHP T'sean Martina (2-8) | Sa. July 15, 3:00 PM, Heemstede (4) |
| 32 | RHP Scott Prins (2-2) | 3 | 5 | RHP Jeremy Young (3-9) | Su. July 16, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| (3) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (4) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | TWINS OOSTERHOUT (8-4) (12-11-1) | vs. |
QUICK AMERSFOORT (5-6-1) (5-19) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Twins | G | # | Starting Pitchers Quick |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 31 | LHP Takuya Fukuda (7-1) | 1 | 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (4-6) | Th. July 13, 7:30 PM, Oosterhout (5) |
| 14 | RHP Filip Čapka (4-3) | 2 | 52 | LHP Jhan Rifaela (3-6) | Sa. July 15, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (6) |
| 49 | RHP Raf Cocu (3-2) | 3 | 18 | LHP Brian van Laar (1-7) | Su. July 16, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (5) |
| (5) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout; (6) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | UVV (3-8-1) (3-19-2) | vs. |
HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (2-9-1) (6-17-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers UVV | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 36 | LHP Gijs van den Brink (0-3) | 1 | 16 | RHP Daan Kuit (0-0) | Th. July 13, 7:30 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 33 | LHP Sem Nijman (2-7) | Sa. July 15, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (8) |
| 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (3-4) | 3 | 22 | RHP Just van den Ouweelen (0-3) | Su. July 16, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (7) |
| (7) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten; (8) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp |
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