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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Rob Jelsma) First games played of inaugural international Frans van Elst Tournament Nederlands VLEUTEN (Neth.) - On Saturday (March 23), the first three games were played of the first edition of the international Frans van Elst Tournament, organized by UVV. Three more games are scheduled for Sunday. The tournament is named after club-icon Frans van Elst, the longtime Equipment Manager, Groundskeeper and much more of UVV. Frans van Elst, who was known as 'Mr. UVV', passed away on May 19, 2022 at age 75. ...Frans van Elst... (© Photo: Rob Jelsma) Frans van Elst not only was a well-respected member of UVV, he also was known and well-liked outside the club. Frans had a pleasant personality, always had a big smile on his face and made you feel welcome and at home at the site of UVV. Frans had been a staff-member of the main baseball-squad since at least the early nineties. Since then, he was the Equipment Manager and Groundskeeper and always was cheerful and did his best to please the players and was always available for them. In many of those seasons, Frans worked on the baseball- and softball-fields of the UVV-complex with René Bransen. Both also acted some seasons as Scoreboard Operators. In the first edition, two foreign teams participate, Borgerhout Squirrels from Belgium and Hamburg Stealers from Germany. Besides host UVV, the field of participants is completed by Curaçao Neptunus. In the opening-game, Curaçao Neptunus shutout host UVV, 7-0. In the third game, Hamburg Stealers nipped UVV with a 6-5 score. In between, Hamburg recorded a big 13-0 shutout-win against Borgerhout Squirrels, which was limited to only one basehit. (March 23) Complete Schedule & Scores (with thanks to Remko Helms for the score-cards)

Curaçao Neptunus vs. UVV The opening-game between Curaçao Neptunus and UVV remained scoreless for five innings. And it was UVV that was the better team in these first four innings. UVV-starter Mike van den Berg dominated and threw four perfect innings. The righthander retired all 12 batters he faced, including two strikeouts. Seven batters grounded out and only three outfield-outs were recorded. Van den Berg is one of the sixteen new players who joined UVV after last season. Van den Berg played for RCH-Pinguïns last year. On the other hand, UVV reached base six times off of Neptunus-starter Tom de Blok. But the righthander also gave up no runs and UVV left four runners behind. In the top of the second inning (UVV was the visiting team), Marvin Jakobus led off with a single and he moved to third on a following single by Kilian Bloat. A double play and strikeout followed and Jakobus stranded on third base. Jakobus is one of eight players from Quick Amersfoort, who transfered to UVV after last season. In the third, lead-off hitter Lucas Bekker was hit by a pitch. De Blok struckout the next two hitters and a pop-fly ended the at bat. With one out in the fourth, Marvin Jakobus walked, but he was forced out on a grounder by American Kilian Bloat, who was recently added to the roster. Now with two outs, Thijs Helms (ex-HCAW) walked. This time, two runners were left behind. UVV was retired in order in the fifth and sixth inning by reliever Ryan Huntington. In the bottom of the fifth, Neptunus got its first baserunner when Arthur Bonevacia led off with a double off of new pitcher Colin van Laar, who last season didn't, but before that played for Quick Amersfoort. The lefthander retired the next three batters, two of them with a strikeout. ' The scoreless tie was finally broken in the bottom of the sixth when Neptunus rallied for five runs (three unearned) off of Colin van Laar. With one out, Rayhelon Carolina walked, stole second base and then scored the first run on a following single by Stijn van der Meer. Next batter Dwayne Kemp also singled, but he was forced out moments later on a grounder by Christian Diaz. On this play, Van der Meer advanced to third and he scored on a single by Arthur Bonevacia. With runners on first and second base, a grounder by Sheadion Jamanika ended in an error, which could have been the third out, but now led to a run. Hereafter, Neptunus got the bases loaded when newcomer Jesse Aussems (ex RCH-Pinguïns) walked and that led to a pitching change. Deef van Leersum (ex-Quick Amersfoort) took over, but he saw Bonevacia and Jamanika score when a grounder by Jayden Mohamed ended in another error. And with that, Neptunus now suddenly led 5-0. With one out in the top of the seventh, Thijs Helms singled for UVV with one out. But with two outs, he was later forced out at second base. Neptunus added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh off off Van Leersum. After Rayshelon Carolina had led off with a walk, the bases got loaded when Darnel Collins and Den Seelbach both singled. An infield-fly accounted for the first out, but Carolina then scored when >Arthur Bonevacia walked and Collins scored when Sheadion Jamanika reached on an error. That also marked the end of the game, as the tournament-rule playing-time had been reached. Darnel Collins is a surprise addition to the roster of Neptunus. He and his brother Darryl Collins play professionally in the Kansas City Royals-organization. Last year, Darnel (professsional since 2021) played in 27 games for the Rookie League-team, hitting .208. The Rookie League-season opens early June. Darryl (professional since 2019) is currently in the USA for Minor League Spring Training. He played in Single-A last season, but was bothered by an injury and played in 23 games, hitting .244.

Curaçao Neptunus - UVV 7-0 (7 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E UVV 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 3 Curaçao Neptunus 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 - 7 6 0 (Game ended with one out in the bottom of the 7th inning, due to tournament-rule time-limit) pitchers UVV inn. SO BB H R ER Mike van den Berg 4 2 - - - - Colin van Laar, L (0-1) 1.2 2 2 4 5 2 Deef van Leersum 0.2 (*) - 2 2 2 2 (*) - 7th inning ended with one out pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Tom de Blok 4 4 2 2 - - Ryan Huntington, W (1-0) 3 4 - 1 - - Umpires: HP-John Beltman, 1B-Jeffrey Bentsnijder. Scorer-Remko Helms (UVV). Public Address Announcer-Roel Peters (UVV). Scoreboard Operator-Marvin Peters (UVV). Starting Time-11:00 AM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten. Game Notes: Game 1, 1st Frans van Elst Tournament 2024.

Borgerhout Squirrels vs. Hamburg Stealers No information of this game is available at the moment.

Borgerhout Squirrels - Hamburg Stealers 0-13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Hamburg Stealers - 0 Borgerhout Squirrels - 13 pitchers Hamburg Stealers inn. SO BB H R ER pitchers Borgerhout Squirrels inn. SO BB H R ER Umpires: HP-Jeffrey Bentsnijder, 1B-Marwin Kleinmoedig. Scorer-. Public Address Announcer-Tom Stamer (UVV). Scoreboard Operator-Chris Heijnen (UVV). Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten. Game Notes: Game 2, 1st Frans van Elst Tournament 2024.

UVV vs. Hamburg Stealers In the third game today, Hamburg Stealers appeared to be en route to another big victory against UVV after having won 13-0 against Borgerhout Squirrels from Belgium in the previous game. Hamburg led 6-0 halfway the fifth, but then scoring stopped for the German team. In the bottom of the fifth, UVV came back, rallied for five runs, but ended up just short. Hamburg Stealers opened the score with an unearned run in the top of the first inning off of starter Allard Helms. Japanese lead-off hitter Ryuta Okada reached on an error and advanced on a following error in the same play. Okada moved on a wild pitch, but Helms followed with a strikeout. Moments later, Okada scored on another wild pitch. In the second inning, the Germans again came into scoring position. With one out, Jakob Boldt reached on a strikeout-wild pitch and moved on a 2-out double by Marc Harder. But they stranded, as a pop-fly ended the at bat. Hamburg Stealers added a run in the third. Quin Cotton led off with a double, moved on a grounder and scored on a single by Brehan Murphy. Last season, Cotton played in the Dutch league for UVV. Hamburg scored two more unearned runs in the fourth off of new pitcher Ruben Dekker, who last year played for HCAW. Livio Bundi led off with a single and Jakob Boldt walked. After both had advanced on a wild pitch, both scored when a double error was made on a grounder by Marvin Kilic. In the top of the fifth, the Germans increased their lead to 6-0 by again scoring twice. Quin Cotton led off with a single and Kevin Van Meensel followed with a double. Hereafter, they went on to score on a sacrifice fly by Brehan Murphy and a grounder by Oskar Jerfsten. UVV came into scoring position twice in its first four at bats. The first time was in the bottom of the third off of starter Simon Bäumer. With one out, Lucas Bekker singled and moved on a grounder. He then advanced to third when a grounder by Amar van Zwieten (ex-Quick) ended in an error, but a strikeout ended the at bat. With one out in the fourth off of reliever Pablo Gonzalez, Kilian Bloat was hit by a pitch and advanced on a grounder by Thijs Helms. However, Bloat also tried to advance to third base, but was eliminated there to complete a double play. Trailing 6-0, UVV came back via a 5-run rally in the bottom of the fifth off of Gonzalez. Jordy Burger led off with a single off of the Spaniard and with one out, the bases got loaded when Lucas Bekker walked and Timothy Rojas also singled. Burger then scored when Amar van Zwieten walked and two more runs were added on a single by Tijmen Takke. Next, Van Zwieten scored on a sacrifice fly by Marvin Jakobus. With two outs, UVV got the bases loaded again when Kilian Bloat was hit by a pitch (for the second time) and Thijs Helms walked. Takke then scored when pinch-hitter Geoffrey Verhoef (last season RCH-Pinguïns) also was hit by a pitch. With the bases still loaded and two outs, Max Müller was inserted as new pitcher. He got an inning-ending grounder. In the top of the sixth, Jakob Boldt led off for Hamburg with a single, but three flyouts followed. In the bottom of the sixth (and final) inning, UVV also got one more baserunner. Lucas Bekker led off with a single and stole second base, but he was eliminated in a game-ending double play.

UVV - Hamburg Stealers 5-6 (6 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Hamburg Stealers 1 0 1 2 2 0 - 6 7 1 UVV 0 0 0 0 5 0 - 5 6 4 pitchers Hamburg Stealers inn. SO BB H R ER Simon Bäumer, W (1-0) 3 5 - 2 - - Pablo Gonzalez 1.2 2 3 3 5 5 Max Müller, SV (1) 1.1 1 - 1 - - pitchers UVV inn. SO BB H R ER Allard Helms, L (0-1) 3 3 1 3 2 1 Ruben Dekker 2 1 1 3 4 2 Riley Gonesh 1 - - 1 - - Umpires: HP-Marwin Kleinmoedig, 1B-John Beltman. Scorer-Remko Helms (UVV). Public Address Announcer-Roel Peters (UVV). Scoreboard Operator-Marvin Peters (UVV). Starting Time-5:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten. Game Notes: Game 3, 1st Frans van Elst Tournament 2024.

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