Baseball
	European Championships 2005

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2005 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch in Final vs. Italy
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
PRAGUE (Czech Republic) - The Dutch team convincingly won 12-0 vs. Spain on Saturday-evening to not only remain unbeaten, but also clinch a spot in the Final of the European Championships. The Dutch team will face Italy, which qualified earlier in the day by winning 6-1 vs. Czech Republic, which was eliminated for the top-four. This will be the first final between the Dutch and Italian team since 1999. In 2001, the Dutch faced Russia, in 2003 Greece.
Germany on Saturday shutout France 2-0 to reach the final for the bronze medal in which it will face Spain.
The Dutch team had only seven basehits, but two of them were homeruns by Ivanon Coffie, both 2-run shots. Coffie now has seven homeruns in the event and also leads in RBI's.
Winning pitcher Diegomar Markwell, who was relieved in the seventh inning, struckout eight batters and gave up only three basehits.

The Dutch team immediately took the lead in the first inning. With two outs, Sidney de Jong singled and scored when Ivanon Coffie hit his sixth homerun of the tournament.
In the second inning, Spain tried to score, but failed. With two outs and runners on first and second, lead runner Sebastian Tesouro tried to score on a single to centerfield by Orlando Jesus Dias, but a great throw by centerfielder Dirk van 't Klooster made the play at home not even close. Tesouro ended up short and was tagged out in a hard, but fair, collission by catcher Sidney de Jong.
In the home second, the third Dutch run was scored when the Spanish short stop misplayed a grounder by Danny Rombley with two outs, but this was ruled an infield-hit. Raily Legito, who had led off with a double, scored on Rombley's hit.
Three runs were added in the third inning. With two outs, the bases were loaded by Sidney de Jong, Ivanon Coffie and Raily Legito (who all walked) when Dirk van 't Klooster hit a 2-run single. Legito scored later on a wild pitch.

In the fourth inning, the lead was lifted from 6-0 to 10-0. With one out, Michael Duursma walked and with two outs Sidney de Jong singled. After a pitching change, Ivanon Coffie walked to load the bases. A wild pitch led to a run, then the bases were loaded again when Percy Isenia was hit by a pitch. Next, Raily Legito cleared the bases with a 3-run double. Two walks re-loaded the bases, but the inning ended when Danny Rombley grounded out.
Jorge Valles, the third Spanish pitcher, gave up two more runs in the fifth inning. With one out, Harvey Monte walked and after Sidney de Jong lined out, Ivanon Coffie again homered and now has seven fourbaggers in the event.

After trying to score in the second inning, the Spanish team reached base only three more times. Only one runner was able to reach second base and that was in the fourth inning when Nestor Perez led off with a double. Perez had two of the three Spanish hits in this game off of Diegomar Markwell. Perez registered his second hit in the sixth inning, but stranded at first base. In the seventh inning, Aslen Llanes walked with two outs, after which Markwell was relieved by Jan Naterop, who struckout Orlando Jesus Dias to end the game.
(July 16)