Baseball
	European Championships 2005

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2005 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch shutout Great Britain
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
OLOMOUC (Czech Republic) - On a rainy second day of the European Championships in the Czech Republic, the Dutch baseball team opened Friday with a 4-0 shutout vs. Great Britain.
This was the only game being played, as four other games, two in Blansko and two in Chocen, all rained out.

Before the game, a moment of silence was observed for the victims of the attacks in London on Thursday. After playing of the national anthems, it started to rain, resulting in a brief delay, but the game could be played entirely, despite playing in rain sometimes.
It took a while, before the scoring was opened and that happened in the fifth inning, thanks to a British error. In the second inning, Sidney de Jong led off with a single and moments later, Percy Isenia singled with one out, but then two flyouts ended the at bat.
In the fifth, Evert-Jan 't Hoen led off with a single, but was forced out on a grounder by Johnny Balentina. After Michael Duursma walked, Dirk van 't Klooster flied out to centerfield, but then an error was made on a grounder by Raily Legito, enabling Balentina to score.
In the seventh inning, the lead was doubled when Evert-Jan 't Hoen homered with one out. Johnny Balentina followed with a double and Michael Duursma walked for the third time, but then Dirk van 't Klooster lined into a double play.
Two runs were scored in the eighth inning. Raily Legito led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ivanon Coffie. With two outs, Harvey Monte singled and scored the fourth run on a double by Percy Isenia.

Dutch starter Rob Cordemans hit British lead-off hitter Adam Roberts with a pitch and then retired the next 17 batters in a row, before giving up his first basehit in the sixth inning. That was a double, coincidentally hit by Roberts.
In the eighth inning, Great Britain got runners on first and third with one out, but failed to score. Timothy Collins led off with a single, then pinch-hitter Raef Hobson-Brown struck out, but Collins advanced to third base on a single by Bradley Marcelino. However, a double play made an end to the British scoring opportunity.
Michiel van Kampen pitched the ninth inning for the Dutch and struckout two.
Two players of Dutch big league-club Hypotheekzeker.nl-Tornado's played for the British squad: centerfielder James Rutherford and pitcher Gary Tongue, who threw the ninth inning.
(July 8)