(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Amsterdam Pirates shuts out Hamburg in second exhibition-game
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Amsterdam Pirates played its second exhibition-game of the year on Thursday-evening (March 16) and recorded another international victory.
This time, the team shutout Hamburg Stealers from Germany with a 9-0 score in an 8-inning game.
Last Sunday, Pirates won 8-6 against Cologne Cardinals, also from Germany.
Due to some problems with the light-installation at the main-site of the Loek Loevendie Ballpark, the game was moved to Field #2 of the complex in Amsterdam and started some 30 minutes later than scheduled.
In tonight's game, Pirates Head Coach Mervin Gario used a new pitcher in each of the eight innings that were played.
Finn Kragt started and threw the first inning for Pirates.
He was followed on the mound by Nelmerson Angela, Sven van de Sanden, Maickel Rietel, Scott Prins, Casper Rommeloo, Ben Meyer and Michael Bennett.
Kragt last season pitched for RCH Memorie Sieraden, as did Van de Sanden.
Rietel then played for Thamen, but he already played for the Amsterdam-squad some seasons ago.
Meyer and Bennett both played for Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Bennett also will serve as the team's Pitching Coach this season.
Rommeloo is a player from the second team of Pirates.
Pirates collected some twelve basehits tonight.
There were several hard hit line drives, including by newcomer Alex Madera, who last season played for Quick Amersfoort.
He drove the ball onto the warning track three times, including a triple, while Denzel Richardson contributed with two doubles.
Richardson was the Most Valuable Player of the Dutch big league last season.
Defensively, Duco Nuijten made a nice play as second baseman.
He also played for Pioniers last year.
Gario stated afterwards that the results in these games is not important.
,,Just having fun and being with each other is more important.
We're gonna play good baseball, but having fun is important to become a good team'', Gario said.
On Friday, Pirates will travel to Cologne in Germany, where the team will play coming weekend against Cologne Cardinals.
On Friday-evening, tonight's opponent Hamburg Stealers will play against the second team of Amsterdam Pirates.
On Saturday, the German team will play two more games in Amsterdam, first against RCH Memorie Seiraden, then another game against Pirates-2.
On Sunday, Hamburg meets UVV in a game that will be played at the site of Knickerbockers in Soest.
A week ago, Hamburg added Canadian pitcher Austin Hassani to its roster.
Hassani last season played for Stuttgart Reds and in 2021, he played for Berlin Flamingos.
He has a British passport and also plays for the British National Team.
Hassani arrived in Amsterdam this week to join his new club after having played in Australia for Kensington Cardinals in the South Australian League.
(March 16)
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