(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers Opening Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
It's time for a new season, it's time for Opening Night and Opening Weekend is around the corner.
And with that, it's time again for the announcement of the (probable) Opening Series Starting Pitchers.
As always, Grand Slam * Stats & News will publish the starting pitchers for a new 3-games series again on Wednesday.
This season, there are eight teams in the highest league, as Quick Amersfoort will play in the First Division this year.
One team will play under a 'new'/'old' name.
In the past five seasons, Haarlem-based clubs Kinheim and DSS played in the two highest leagues under the joint name DSS/Kinheim, as the two clubs closely worked together.
Although the clubs still have a good working-relationship with each other, it was decided in the off-season to return to their former names.
And so, the big league-team will play as Kinheim and the First Division-team as DSS.
By the way, Kinheim will celebrate its 90th anniversarry this year.
In the Opening Series of the 104th season in the highest Dutch baseball-league, reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus meets Oosterhout Twins.
Last year, the two teams also faced each other in the Opening Series.
Last season, HCAW dethroned Amsterdam Pirates in the Play-Offs, while Neptunus eliminated DSS/Kinheim.
In the best-of-seven Holland Series, Neptunus swept HCAW to capture its 20th Championship-title.
For Neptunus, this was its first title since 2018.
In 2019 and 2021, Pirates defeated Neptunus in the Championship Series.
In 2020, Pirates led 2-0 against Neptunus in the Holland Series, which then was abrupty halted due to new measures during the coronavirus-pandemic (COVID-19).
In 2022, HCAW swept Neptunus in the Holland Series and in 2023, Pirates again defeated Neptunus.
As in each season, there are several new faces and names amongst the players, coaches and staff-members of the eight big league-teams.
This season, five teams have a new Head Coach with two of them making their big league-debut.
Aldric Dunlop is the new Head Coach of RCH-Pinguïns, Gino Henson was recently named new Head Coach of HCAW, Elton Koeiman will lead UVV, Milan Lammerts is the Head Coach of Kinheim and Canadian Robert Ushy will be in charge of Oosterhout Twins.
Lammerts and Ushy are the rookie-coaches.
Returning Head Coaches are Mervin Gario (Amsterdam Pirates), Tom van Limburg (Hoofddorp Pioniers) and Greg Muller (Neptunus).
With the Opening Series approaching, it's time for the coaches to set their rotations.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the first 3-game series of the new 2025 season that opens on Thursday-evening, April 10.
As always, these pitching assignments can change on game-days.
(April 9)
Rosters (will be published on Thursday)
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| Roster | OOSTERHOUT TWINS (0-0) | vs. |
CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Twins | G | # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 14 | RHP Wyatt Lankford (0-0) | 1 | 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (0-0) | Th. April 10, 7:30 PM, Oosterhout (1) |
| 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (0-0) | 2 | 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (0-0) | Sa. April 12, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (2) |
| | to be determined | 3 | 30 | RHP Koen Postelmans (0-0) | Su. April 13, 2:30 PM, Oosterhout (1) |
| (1) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout; (2) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam |
| Roster | WORLDWIDE PHARMA LOGISTICS HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (0-0) | vs. |
HCAW (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 27 | LHP Maarten Smit (0-0) | 1 | 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (0-0) | Th. April 10, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (3) |
| 44 | RHP Lars Broersen (0-0) | 2 | 21 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (0-0) | Sa. April 12, 2:00 PM, Bussum (4) |
| 4 | LHP Maxwell Cornelissen (0-0) | 3 | 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (0-0) | Su. April 13, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorrp (3) |
| (3) - ETO Ballpark, Sport Park21, Hoofddorp; (4) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| Roster | RCH-PINGUÏNS (0-0) | vs. |
AMSTERDAM PIRATES (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | RHP Yoendy Gregoria (0-0) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (0-0) | Th. April 10, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (5) |
| 21 | LHP Lucca van der Schouw (0-0) | 2 | 25 | RHP Pim Vijfvinkel (0-0) | Sa. April 12, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (5) |
| 29 | RHP T'sean Martina (0-0) | 3 | 34 | LHP Chris Stuart (0-0) | Su. April 13, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (6) |
| (5) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (6) - Heemsteedse Sportparken,Heemstede |
| Roster | KINHEIM (0-0) | vs. |
UVV (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Kinheim | G | # | Starting Pitchers UVV |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 15 | RHP Dylan Eshuis (0-0) | 1 | 35 | RHP Mike van den Berg (0-0) | Th. April 10, 7:30 PM, Haarlem (7) |
| 89 | RHP Tobias Imming (0-0) | 2 | 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (0-0) | Sa. April 12, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (8) |
| 17 | RHP Joris Meinsma (0-0) or
LHP Tijn Fredrikze (0-0) | 3 | 25 | LHP Colin van Laar | Su. April 13, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (7) |
| (7) - Pim Mulier Stadium, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem; (8) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten |
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