(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Netherlands Team wins first exhibition-game via homerun-comeback
Nederlands
 SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (USA) -
The Netherlands Team continued its World Baseball Classic-preparations in Arizona on Saturday (February 25) with another exhibition game.
The team lost its first two games against Hanwha Eagles (4-1, 15-4).
Today, the Orange Team came from behind and won 7-5 against LG Twins.
A third game against Hanwha Eagles was scheduled for last Wednesday, but that rained out.
Instead, the Orange Team conducted a 4-inning intrasquad-game.
Shairon Martis and Dylan Farley pitched for Team Red.
Farley is another debuting player on the Netherlands-roster.
Tom de Blok and Scott Prins pitched for Team Orange.
For De Blok, this was his first pitching-outing since September 2021.
Since then, the righthander had been sidelined with an shoulder-injury.
Because of that, De Blok didn't pitch the entire 2022 season when he was with L&D Amsterdam Pirates, where Prins was his teammate.
This season, De Blok will play for Curaçao Neptunus.
For-the-record, the Orange Team won 3-2.
On Saturday, the Netherlands played its third exhibition game in Arizona.
This time, LG Twins was the opponent, like Hanwha Eagles one of the teams from the professional KBO League in South Korea.
Last season, LG Twins finished in second place in the regular season with an 87-55 record to reach the Play-Offs.
In the best-of-five, Twins was eliminated by Kiwoom Heroes in four games.
LG Twins has its home in South Korean capital Seoul, where it plays its home-games in the historic Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which has been the site of several international events through the years.
Kyung-Youp Youm became the Manager of LG Twins in November last year.
Earlier, he led the teams of Nexen Heroes (2013-2016) and SK Wyverns (2019-2020).
Thereafter, Youm was a member of the coaching-staff of the Major League-team of San Diego Padres in 2021 and 2022.
In today's game, the Netherlands trailed 4-0, but the team then rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 7-5.
That was done on five basehits, including two homeruns, one of them a grand slam by Ademar Rifaela, who was added to the team as an additional player during its stay in Arizona.
Initially, the Korean pitching dominated and gave up only one basehit the first six innings.
On the other hand, the Orange-pitching also did well and gave up only one run on six basehits in the first six at bats.
In the first six innings of the game, the Netherlands got five baserunners, but only two of them got into scoring position.
In the opening at bat, Andrelton Simmons led off with a walk, then Didi Gregorius flied out to deep centerfield.
Simmons stranded on first base.
After being retired in order in the second inning, Sharlon Schoop led of the third and reached on an error.
Next batter Dashenko Ricardo struckout, then Juremi Profar grounded into a double play.
The first Dutch runner in scoring position was recorded in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With one out, Didi Gregorius walked and advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
But hereafter, both Wladimir Balentien and Roger Bernadina struckout.
In the fifth inning, the Orange Team got two baserunners for the first time.
Zander Wiel led off with a single, which was the first Dutch basehit in the game.
With one out, Wiel advanced on a wild pitch, then Ray-Patrick Didder walked.
They also were left behind, as Sharlon Schoop flied out and Dashenko Ricardo struckout.
The Netherlands was retired in order again in the sixth.
In the meantime, the Korean opponent had opened the score in the fourth inning.
Lars Huijer made his second start in the exhibition-series.
The righthander got two baserunners in the top of the first inning.
He gave up a lead-off single, but that runner was forced out.
A strikeout accounted for the second out, but a walk led to the second runner.
A grounder ended the at bat.
In the second inning, Huijer retired the side and got nice defense support from short stop Ray-Patrick Didder and first baseman Didi Gregorius.
Huijer also retired the side in the third inning.
In the fourth, Huijer gave up a lead-off double and walked a batter with one out.
He was then relieved by Juan Carlos Sulbaran, who was greeted with a runscoring single.
With runners at the corners, Sulbaran got the bases loaded via a walk, but a double play ended this scoring opportunity for LG Twins.
Mike Bolsenbroek took over the Dutch pitching in the fifth and encountered no problems.
With two outs, he walked a batter, but a flyout followed.
In the sixth, the righthander got two quick outs, then was relieved by Ryan Huntington.
He was greeted with a single and when leftfielder Zander Wiel made a throwing error, the runner ended up on second base.
But he was left there.
...Ademar Rifaela...
...grand slam homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The final three at bats in today's game were the most productive and turned the game around in Orange favor.
In the top of the seventh inning, Kevin Kelly became the fifth Netherlands-pitcher and retired the side.
Up to this moment, the Orange-offense was still limited to only one basehit.
But that changed.
In the bottom of the seventh, with one out, Roger Bernadina singled.
Next batter Zander Wiel hit the ball deep into leftfield, but it was caught.
Hereafter, Josh Palacios singled to put runners at first and third base.
But they were left behind when Ray-Patrick Didder hit an inning-ending pop-fly.
In the top of the eighth inning, LG Twins took more distance by scoring three runs off of new pitcher Dennis Burgersdijk.
After a lead-off infield-hit, the bases got loaded with one out via a walk and a single.
That was followed by a 2-run single, then an error accounted for another run and lifted the lead to 4-0.
A double play ended the at bat, but the Koreans appeared to have taken a decisive lead.
The game then completely turned around in the bottom of the eighth when the Netherlands rallied for seven runs on five basehits, including two homeruns!
With one out, the bases got loaded when Sicnarf Loopstok was hit by a pitch and both Juremi Profar and Dwayne Kemp singled.
Hereafter, the first Dutch run was scored on a single by Denzel Richardson.
With the bases still loaded, Ademar Rifaela connected well and hit a grand slam homerun to put the Netherlands ahead 5-4.
With the bases now empty, Jiandido Tromp walked.
This time, Zander Wiel followed with a 2-run homerun that made it a 7-4 score!
With that, the two deciding basehits in this at bat were recorded by two players who were added to the team for the training-camp in Arizona.
The first run, which opened the rally, was batted in by Denzel Richardson, who was the Most Valuable Player in the Dutch big league last season.
Thereafter, the deciding grand slam followed by Ademar Rifaela, who was the MVP of the 2019 European Championship when he hit six homeruns for the Netherlands.
Now with a 7-4 lead, Arij Fransen took the mound for the Netherlands in the top of the ninth, but the lead then did come into jeopardy for a moment.
The righthander began a walk, then the Orange-defense turned a double play.
With two outs, Fransen got the bases loaded when he issued three more walks.
LG Twins then scored a run when Fransen walked his five batter in this at bat.
But with the bases still loaded, Fransen closed the inning and the game with a strikeout.
The following players came into action for the Netherlands:
Andrelton Simmons (3B, 0-for-2), Dwayne Kemp (3B, 1-for-1), Didi Gregorius (1B, 0-for-2), Denzel Richardson (LF, 1-for-1), Wladimir Balentien (DH, 0-for-2), Ademar Rifaela (PH/DH, 1-for-2), Roger Bernadina (CF, 1-for-3), Jiandido Tromp (CF, 0-for-0), Zander Wiel (LF/1B, 2-for-4), Josh Palacios (RF, 1-for-4), Ray-Patrick Didder (SS, 0-for-2), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-2), John Polonius (2B, 0-for-1), Dashenko Ricardo (C, 0-for-2), Sicnarf Loopstok (C, 0-for-0), Juremi Profar (Extra DH, 1-for-2) and pitchers Lars Huijer, Juan Carlos Sulbaran, Mike Bolsenbroek, Ryan Huntington, Kevin Kelly, Dennis Burgersdijk and >Arij Fransen.
(February 25)
Related Articles:
 Netherlands Team suffers big loss in second exhibition-game in Arizona. (February 21)
Netherlands Team opens exhibition-series in Arizona with loss. (February 19)
Roster Netherlands Team announced for World Baseball Classic. (February 10)
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Third exhibition game as part of preparations for World Baseball Classic.