Baseball
	European Championships 2005

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2005 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch remain unbeaten in preliminary
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
CHOCEN (Czech Republic) - The Dutch team won big vs. Germany 15-4 on Tuesday-morning to close the preliminary round of the European Championships and remain unbeaten. The game was played on the first good day of the event with a bright sun and temperatures of around 25 degrees Celsius in the morning. In the afternoon, it was 32 degrees.
While the Netherlands already secured its place for the final phase yesterday, the other two spots in Pool A remained open with only a few games remaining. In Pool B, the three finalists were decided the evening before, but the ranking also was to be decided today.
As Great Britain defeated Russia in the afternoon, it meant that Germany also had clinched the final phase and that the British team was eliminated, because Germany had won the game between them. Italy officially qualified when it won only 5-3 vs. Sweden. In the evening, Italy claimed second place in Pool A with another small victory, winning only 8-5 against Germany.
In Pool B, Spain was the group winner and remained unbeaten after winning 9-3 vs. Greece. In the evening, Czech Republic won 3-2 in eleven innings vs. France to finish in second place, with the French team taking third. Greece, which reached the all-deciding final in 2003, finished in fourth place in this pool and now will play for 7th-12th place.
This means that the Dutch team will open the final phase in Prague against host Czech Republic, then face France and close against Spain. According to agreements between the Czech Federation and the European Baseball Federation (CEB), which were made in advance, the schedule for the final round was adjusted to specific game times for the Czech team, to make their games accessible for spectators and for television broadcasts.

The Dutch team decided the game against Germany already in the first inning. With one out, Raily Legito singled and Ivanon Coffie doubled. With two outs, the two runners scored on a single by Harvey Monte, which was followed by a single from Percy Isenia. Next, Evert-Jan 't Hoen produced a 2-run double to make it 4-0.

Nick Stuifbergen, who earlier this week made his national team-debut, now made his debut as a starter in the Dutch squad. He appeared to ran into problems in the first inning, as Germany loaded the bases with two outs. After a flyout, Stuifbergen committed an error, covering first base on a grounder, then gave up a single and hit a batter with two outs, but a groundout ended the at at.
In the second inning, Germany reached base again, but bad baserunning took them out of the inning. First, Alexander Lauterbach led off with a homerun. With one out, Andreas Janzen walked and Kai Achim Grondauer singled. Next, Jendrick Speer also singled on which both runners raced towards third base and ended up there together. After the throw came back from then outfield, both runners were tagged with the lead runner being called out. However, there now were runners on second and third with two outs, but again a groundout prevented more runs.

In the third inning, the Dutch scored twice when Percy Isenia hit a 2-run homerun, but Germany also scored twice in its third at bat on two sacrifice flies that followed a single and a double. The Dutch lead therefore was narrowed to 6-3.
In the fourth, the Dutch took more distance by scoring three runs. They loaded the bases, resulting in a pitching change, and a sacrifice fly by Raily Legito and a 2-run, 2-out single by Sidney de Jong did the rest.
Four runs were added in the fifth inning. With one out, Dirk van 't Klooster and Danny Rombley hit back-to-back doubles to bring in a run, then Michael Duursma singled, followed by a runscoring error. Ivanon Coffie then hit his fourth homerun in four days to lift the lead to 13-3.
In the sixth inning, Michael Duursma hit a 2-run double to make it 15-3.

After giving up a lead-off single in the fourth inning, Nick Stuifbergen was relieved by Jan Naterop, who made his national team-debut. He gave up two fly balls, with the last ending up in a double play to end the inning.
Forstin Coenraad, who also made his debut, pitched the sixth and closer Michiel van Kampen the seventh inning. With one out in the seventh, Van Kampen gave up a homerun to Dominik Wulf to give Germany its fourth run.

The Dutch team had 17 basehits in this game, including three by Sidney de Jong and Danny Rombley. All nine starting players had at least one basehit and at least one run scored. Eight of the nine also had at least one RBI.

Veteran Johnny Balentina took over at third base in the sixth inning and therefore appeared in his 132nd official game for the Dutch team to share second place on the all-time with Charles Urbanus. The list is headed by Marcel Joost, who played in 163 games.
(July 12)