(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers Coming Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Coming Thursday-evening (June 12), the next 3-day series opens in the Dutch big league.
On Thursday, the regular season resumes after a brief break.
In the past week, no games were scheduled on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, which was a pre-emptied weekend and had to do with the Dutch Little League Championship-tournaments.
Games were also not scheduled in the First Division, as well as in the two highest softball-leagues.
Two days earlier, two of the four rained out games of May 24 were made up.
The other two games were played last Tuesday-evening.
On that day, RCH-Pinguïns won 6-3 at Kinheim to record its first away-win of the season.
Despite the win, the Heemstede-team was the first to be eliminated for first place, due to the win of league-leader Curaçao Neptunus against Amsterdam Pirates (9-4).
The last series (May 29-June 1) had a peculiar start, as three of the four games scheduled for Thursday, May 29 were cancelled by the KNBSB the day before.
That was done after the appointed umpires of these three games had withdrawn their availability in order to support a colleague at the lone game played that day in Rotterdam between Curaçao Neptunus and Oosterhout Twins.
On May 30, a statement by the Dutch Major League Umpires was published on the website of the KNBSB in which they explained that ''This decision was not taken lightly, but is the result of a boundary that has been crossed repeatedly''.
Further on in the statement, it is mentioned that ''The sports climate within baseball has noticeably hardened in recent years.
We are increasingly confronted with verbal aggression, threats and disrespectful behavior.
Both on and off the field.
On social media, umpires are openly criticized and sometimes even personally attacked.
Respect for our role and function is often hard to find''.
The umpires also mention ''the lack of support we experience from a number of club boards and teams'', as well as ''We also feel that we are not sufficiently supported by the KNBSB federation office''.
On May 29, the umpires had a meeting with a delegation of the KNBSB.
The umpires, who noted that their work-stoppage was was a one-off, resumed their activities two days later when the second games of the series were scheduled.
However, in the lone game that was played, experienced (international) umpire Jeffrey Bentsnijder officiated his last game.
It was published that ''His decision to stop came from personal, negative experiences with the increasing hardening in the sport and the lack of adequate support''.
Of course, it is very unfortunate that the umpiring corps loses a well-respected and experienced colleague because of these reasons.
This website supports the umpires and it needs to be underscored that all game-officials deserve full respect on and off the field!
Full statement of umpires on KNBSB-website (in Dutch)
Earlier this week, the three games that were cancelled on May 29 were re-scheduled for coming Tuesday-evening, June 17.
In the upcoming series, three pitchers will make their first appearance of the season.
On Sunday, in Game 3, Juan Carlos Sulbaran will be the starter for Curaçao Neptunus against Worldwide Pharma Logistics Hoofddorp Pioniers.
This season, the righthander played professially in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol.
Sulbaran began the season with Caliente de Durango for whom he appeared in three games, throwing in nine innings.
He was 1-1 with an ERA of 10.00, while striking out eight batters.
Sulbaran was released on April 29, but he signed with Rieleros de Aguascalientes, where he was on the roster for only six days (May 10-15).
He appeared in two games as reliever and was 1-0 with a 10.80 ERA.
In 3 1/3 inning, Sulbaran had one strikeout, but gave up five hits (one homerun) and five runs.
Sulbaran was released on May 17.and now will make his comeback in the Dutch big league.
Also making his first appearance of the season is righthander Lars Huijer, who will be the starter for HCAW in its third game against Kinheim coming Sunday.
Until now, Huijer was unavailable to pitch for the Bussum-team.
The third pitcher who makes his first appearance is lefthander Dylan Farley.
Coming Saturday, Farley will be the starter for Amsterdam Pirates in its second game against Oosterhout Twins.
Until May 17, Farley played in College in the USA.
Farley began the season on the roster of RCH-Pinguïns (for whom he not played), but recently, he transfered back to Pirates for whom he played last season.
Beneath are the announced (probable) starting pitchers for the ninth 3-game series of the 2025 season that opens on Thursday-evening, June 12.
As always, these pitching assignments can change on game-days.
(June 11)
Standings, Scores & Schedules
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| Roster | WORLDWIDE PHARMA LOGISTICS HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (9-14) | vs. |
CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (23-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 27 | LHP Maarten Smit (2-6) | 1 | 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (7-1) | Th. June 12, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (1) |
| 13 | RHP Noah Zavolas (3-1) | 2 | 47 | RHP Drew Janssen (3-0) | Sa. June 14, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (2) |
| 12 | RHP Levi de Graaf (0-1) | 3 | 88 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (0-0) | Su. June 15, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (1) |
| (1) - ETO Ballpark, Sport Park21, Hoofddorp; (2) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam |
| Roster | KINHEIM (8-15) | vs. |
HCAW (16-7) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Kinheim | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 19 | RHP Robyn Clara (1-1) | 1 | 28 | LHP Rick Rizvić (3-1) | Th. June 12, 7:30 PM, Haarlem (3) |
| 76 | LHP Tijn Fredrikze (2-4) | 2 | 21 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (4-4) | Sa. June 14, 2:00 PM, Bussum (4) |
| 89 | RHP Tobias Imming (1-2) | 3 | 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (0-0) | Su. June 15, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (3) |
| (3) - Pim Mulier Stadium, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem; (4) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| Roster | OOSTERHOUT TWINS (11-12-1) | vs. |
AMSTERDAM PIRATES (14-9) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Twins | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (1-5) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (1-2) | Th. June 12, 7:30 PM, Oosterhout (5)) |
| 19 | RHP Misja Harcksen (4-1) | 2 | 15 | LHP Dylan Farley (0-0) | Sa. June 14, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (6) |
| 14 | RHP Wyatt Lankford (3-2) | 3 | 34 | LHP Chris Stuart (3-0) | Su. June 15, 2:30 PM, Oosterhout (5) |
| (5) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout; (6) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| Roster | RCH-PINGUÏNS (4-19) | vs. |
UVV (7-15-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns | G | # | Starting Pitchers UVV |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 26 | RHP Rowan Dorrestijn (1-1) | 1 | 20 | RHP Kimi Verkruijssen (0-2) | Th. June 12, 7:30 PM, Heemstede (7)) |
| 21 | LHP Lucca van der Schouw (0-7) | 2 | 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (3-3) | Sa. June 14, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (8) |
| 44 | LHP Rik Jalvingh (0-4) | 3 | 35 | RHP Mike van den Berg (0-5) | Su. June 15, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (7) |
| (7) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede; (8) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten |
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