(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (July 20), the next 3-game series will begin in both the Top-4 Pool and Bottom-5 Pool.
As mentioned earlier, these two Pools form the second half of the regular season and end on Sunday, August 20.
Four days later after completion of the regular season, the six Wild Card Series begin 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 (four teams).
In the two 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.
In the previous series, Top-4 leader Curaçao Neptunus swept reigning champion HCAW in three games, including a mercy-rule win in the third game on Sunday.
Amsterdam Pirates won two of its three games against RCH Memorie Sieraden.
With these results, Pirates and HCAW now share second place with the same total of points.
After completion of the first half, the teams took half of their total of points with them to the second half.
Pirates and HCAW now both have 35 points.
A team gets two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss.
In the Bottom-5 Pool, Twins Oosterhout swept Quick Amersfoort, while Hoofddorp Pioniers won twice in its 3-game series against UVV.
Twins lead the Bottom-5, followed by DSS/Kinheim, which had no games scheduled.
In the coming series, Quick is the team without games.
Twins and DSS/Kinheim have a big lead over the other three teams.
In the upcoming series, both can secure the top-two spots and therefore qualify for the Wild Card Bottom Series.
And so, the teams are ready for the next 3-game series.
All rotations appear to have set, except again for HCAW.
Since the conclusion of the European Champions Cup-tournament on June 10, HCAW announced its rotation later, as it still has to do without injured righthander Lars Huijer.
In the previous three series, Gio de Graauw, Kaj Timmermans and Dennis Burgersdijk were the starters for HCAW in that order.
A comfirmation of its rotation is expected again on Thursday-afternoon.
However, only the starter for the first game was announced early in the evening, which was Burgersdijk.
The probable starters for the two games in the weekend are yet to be determined.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, July 20.
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 19-20)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (3-12) (12-11-1) | vs. |
HCAW (7-8) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 35 | RHP Mike van den Berg (1-1) | 1 | 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (8-2) | Th. July 20, 7:30 PM, Heemstede (1) |
| 29 | RHP T'sean Martina (2-9) | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. July 22, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| 5 | RHP Jeremy Young (4-9) | 3 | | to be decided | Su. July 23, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (1) |
| (1) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede; (2) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | AMSTERDAM PIRATES (9-6) (16-7-1) | vs. |
CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (11-4) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (4-0) | 1 | 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (6-0) | Th. July 20, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (6-3) | 2 | 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (7-2) | Sa. July 22, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (4) |
| 32 | RHP Scott Prins (2-3) | 3 | 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (12-1) | Su. July 23, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| (3) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (4) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (4-10-1) (6-17-1) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (11-4) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 18 | RHP Sem Lauf (2-7) | 1 | 55 | RHP James Scholten (0-0) | Th. July 20, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| 33 | LHP Sem Nijman (2-7) | 2 | 14 | RHP Filip Čapka (5-3) | Sa. July 22, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (6) |
| 22 | RHP Just van den Ouweelen (1-3) | 3 | 49 | RHP Raf Cocu (4-2) | Su. July 23, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| (5) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (6) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | DSS/KINHEIM (10-1-1) (10-14) | vs. |
UVV (4-10-1) (3-19-2) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim | G | # | Starting Pitchers UVV |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (8-2) | 1 | 11 | LHP Aaron Isenia (1-3) | Th. July 20, 7:30 PM, Haarlem (7) |
| 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (5-6) | 2 | 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (3-5) | Sa. July 22, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (8) |
| 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (3-1) | 3 | | to be decided | Su. July 23, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (7) |
| (7) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem; (8) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten |
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