(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Robert Bos)
 Starting Pitchers coming series; Final start for Diegomar Markwell
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (May 25), the first games of the eighth 3-game series of the first half of the 2023 season in the Dutch big league are scheduled.
This is the second to last series of the first half.
At the moment, two teams have secured a spot in the Top-4 Pool.
Curaçao Neptunus was the first on May 14.
Last Saturday, reigning champion HCAW became the second team to qualify for the Top-4 Pool.
In the upcoming series, third placed Amsterdam Pirates can become the third team to reach this pool.
The remaining fourth spot probably will be decided in the final series of the first half.
Twins Oosterhout and RCH Memorie Sieraden are the two remaining contending teams and currently are close to each other in fourth and fifth place.
Twins and RCH will face each other in the final series of the first half.
In the upcoming series, RCH has no games scheduled, while Twins meets Neptunus.
In last week's series, four teams were eliminated for the Top-4 Pool, all because of a loss combined with a win by Twins.
On Thursday, Quick Amersfoort was the first team that was eliminated.
On Saturday, UVV was eliminated and on Sunday, that also happened to Hoofddorp Pioniers.
In the coming series, Quick will play its last games of the first half.
On Sunday, DSS/Kinheim also was eliminated.
In case, the team will win its final six games against Quick and Pioniers in its final two series, DSS/Kinheim will have more points than Twins and RCH-Pinguïns currently have.
However, as these two teams will meet in the final series, one of them always will finish ahead of the Haarlem-based team, even when Twins is swept in the coming series by Neptunus or when all three games of the final series end with a tie.
In the upcoming series, there will be an interesting meeting, as Amsterdam Pirates and Hoofddorp Pioniers will face each other.
After completion of last season, most players left Pioniers.
Many of these players tranfered to Pirates.
Besides that, Mervin Gario, who was the Head Coach of Pioniers in the past five seasons, now is the Head Coach of Pirates.
...Diegomar Markwell...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
The third game of the Pioniers vs. Pirates series on Sunday in Hoofddorp will be an evening-game instead of an afternoon-game and starts at 7:30 PM.
That also will be the starting time of Game 3 between Neptunus and UVV in Rotterdam.
This has to do with the Dutch Little League Championships that are being held coming weekend at the sites of Pioniers and Neptunus.
The third game of the Neptunus vs. UVV series also will have a special feature.
Veteran lefthander Diegomar Markwell then will be the starting pitcher for Neptunus in what will be his final pitching-appearance in his long career.
Markwell, who also is the Pitching Coach of Neptunus, confirmed that this will be his final outing on the mound.
This season, Markwell made four relief-appearances, throwing four innings.
Markwell made his debut in the Dutch big league in 2004 when he played for Sparta-Feyenoord.
Since 2005, the lefthander plays for Neptunus and he is currently active in his 20th season in the highest league.
Regular starters Tom de Blok and Kevin Kelly, who have been the starters for Neptunus in Game 1 and 3 respectively in all series so far, are not included in the rotation for the upcoming series.
De Blok gets the series off, but Kelly will be available as a reliever.
There are two series left in the first half of the season, which ends on Sunday, June 4.
In the first half, all teams play 24 games, one 3-game series against each other.
The four best teams then will continue in the Top-4 Pool, while the other teams form the Bottom-5 Pool.
In pevious seasons when teams were split, the champion always came from the Top Pool (or Championship Pool).
But that's no longer the case.
Last year, a new format was introduced and teams that play in the Bottom Pool still have a chance to become the Dutch champion.
However, to do so, they have to finish in first or second place in their Pool to advance to the Wild Card Bottom Series.
When successful, a team can then advance to the Play-Offs and the Holland Series.
The first games in the Bottom-5 Pool are played Thursday, June 8.
There are no games scheduled then in the Top-5 Pool, which opens a week later, on Thursday, June 15.
That has to do with the European Champions Cup-tournament, which is held June 6-10 at the sites of Amsterdam Pirates and HCAW.
By the way, the final ranking of the first half also will be important for the Holland Series.
The team that finishes highest will have home-advantage in the best-of-seven Championship Series.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, May 25.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
(May 24)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| Roster | HCAW (15-3) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (11-6-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (5-0) | 1 | 40 | RHP Jeffrey Levenstone (1-1) | Th. May 25, 7:30 PM, Bussum (1) |
| 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (2-0) | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. May 27, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (2) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (5-0) | 3 | 49 | RHP Raf Cocu (2-0) | Su. May 28, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| (1) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum; (2) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
| Roster | HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (4-13-1) | vs. |
AMSTERDAM PIRATES (12-5-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 22 | RHP Just van den Ouweelen (0-1) | 1 | 21 | RHP Michael Bennett (2-1) | Th. May 25, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (3) |
| 9 | RHP Eddie Aucoin (0-1) | 2 | 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (2-2) | Sa. May 27, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 29 | RHP Jelle van der Lelie (2-0) | Su. May 28, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (3) |
| (3) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (4) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (16-1-1) | vs. |
UVV (3-14-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers UVV |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 10 | LHP Ryan Huntington (1-0) | 1 | 18 | RHP Allard Helms (0-3) | Th. May 25, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (5) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (4-0) | 2 | 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (2-3) | Sa. May 27, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (6) |
| 35 | LHP Diegomar Markwell (0-0) | 3 | 27 | RHP Sam van der Meer (0-2) | Su. May 28, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (5) |
| (5) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (6) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten |
| Roster | QUICK AMERSFOORT (4-17) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (6-12) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Quick | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (1-4) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (2-2) | Th. May 25, 7:30 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| 52 | LHP Jhan Rifaela (1-4) | 2 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (1-5) | Sa. May 27, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (8) |
| 25 | LHP Brian van Laar (1-5) | 3 | 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (2-1) | Su. May 28, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| (7) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort; (8) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
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