(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers Holland Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Saturday-afternoon (October 5), the best-of-seven Holland Series opens in Rotterdam at 2 PM.
Game 2 of the Series will be played coming Sunday in Bussum, beginning at 1:30 PM.
The Series continues on Thursday-evening with Game 3 in Rotterdam.
In the following weekend, Game 4 will be played on Saturday, October 12.
When a fifth game is needed, it will be played the following day.
When needed, Game 6 and Game 7 are scheduled for October 19-20.
There will be a new Champion this year, as reigning champion Amsterdam Pirates was dethroned last Saturday by HCAW.
In the best-of-three Play-Offs, the Bussum-team swept Pirates.
In the opener, HCAW recorded a big and comfortable 10-2 victory, on Saturday, a small 2-0 shutout followed.
Pirates outhit HCAW 8-4, but also committed five costly errors, resulting in two unearned runs.
In the top of the ninth, Pirates got runners on second and third base with two outs off of Norwegian closer Lars Liguori.
A sharp grounder through the rightside folllowed, but German second baseman Eric Brenk got the ball in time to first base to end the game.
Brenk's play was one of several fine defensive plays by the HCAW-infield.
In the Holland Series, HCAW will meet Curaçao Neptunus, which swept DSS/Kinheim in the Play-Offs, winning 5-1 and 9-1.
This will mark the 30th time that Neptunus will play in the Holland Series, which includes the halted Final in 2020, which ended after two games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
HCAW will play in its 12th Championship Final.
It is the 13th consecutive year that Neptunus has qualified for the Holland Series, but its last Championship-title dates from 2018.
Since 2019, team was left empty-handed each year.
In 2019, Neptunus won the first three games, but opponent Amsterdam Pirates then became the first team in history to win the next four and capture the title.
In 2020, Pirates won the first two games of the Series, which was then halted due to measures against the coronavirus.
In 2021, Pirates and Neptunus again were the finalists and Pirates again won in seven games.
In 2022, HCAW swept Neptunus in four games.
And last year, Pirates again defeated Neptunus in seven games.
This will be the tenth time that Neptunus and HCAW will face each other in the Holland Series.
The first time was in 1991 when Neptunus won the then best-of-five 3-1.
In 1998, it was HCAW that won 3-1.
The following year, Neptunus won their next Series.
In 2001-2005, Neptunus won five consecutive Series against HCAW.
It then took until 2022 for the teams to meet again in the Final.
HCAW then swept Neptunus in four games.
Neptunus has named its starters for the first two games coming weekend.
Although it is expected that righthander Lars Huijer will be the starter in the opener on Saturday, HCAW has not yet announced its starters.
That has to do with some minor injuries.
In the meantime, several players have left their club to begin their new college-year in the USA.
For HCAW, that means it will miss pitcher Gio de Graauw and infielder Thomas Maathuis.
The lone Neptunus-player in the USA is infielder Tyriq Kemp, who already had left earlier.
Neptunus has one other player in the USA and that is catcher Dave Janssen.
However, he stayed in America after completion of this year's college-season and did not play for Neptunus in the Dutch big league-season this year.
Beneath are the announced probable starting pitchers for the Holland Series that opens on Saturday-afternoon, October 5.
As always, these pitching assignments can change on game-days.
(October 3)
Scores, Schedule and Standings
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| HOLLAND SERIES |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) | vs. |
HCAW (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | RHP Tom de Blok (0-0) | 1 | | to be decided | Sa. Oct. 5, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| | RHP Shairon Martis (0-0) | 2 | | to be decided | Su. Oct. 6, 1:30 PM, Bussum (2) |
| | | 3 | | | Th. Oct. 10, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| | | 4 | | | Sa. Oct. 12, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| | | 5 (*) | | | Su. Oct. 13, 1:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| | | 6 (*) | | | Sa. Oct. 19, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| | | 7 (*) | | | Su. Oct. 20, 1:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
(1) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (2) - Rob Hofmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum
(*) - if needed |
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