Pirates also had some calls against them. In the home first, Derick Francisca led off with an infield-hit, then moved on a sac-bunt by Roderick Simon. Next, Francisca was off base, but was caught stealing after a throw by Pionier-starter Erik Jan Lind, who balked on the move, but that wasn't called, so Francisca became the second out.
In the seventh inning, trailing 4-1, Pirates scored a run and had runners on first and third with one out when Derick Francisca was called out for touching the ball with his body after a bunt. The call was correct, but wasn't made right away, but only after Pioniers reacted. Francisca argued the call, as was Head Coach Louis Hofer, who was ejected by Home Plate Umpire John Beltman. Earlier in the game, Michael Duursma also appeared to touch the ball while running, but this time, it was ruled a foul ball.

In the first four innings, Pioniers left five runners and failed to score. In the second inning, Mark Duursma led off with a walk and Norbert Lokhorst singled. Duursma was later forced out at third base on a grounder by Marcel Venema, then Lokhorst was able to reach third on a throwing error after it was tried to double him up at second base. But a strikeout and another force play followed. In the fourth inning, Marcel Venema tripled with two outs, but stranded at third.

Pioniers then opened the score with two runs in the fifth inning when the first three batters all bunted. Jefferson Muzo and Michael Duursma reached on a bunt-single and advanced on a sac-bunt by Edwin de Graaf. Singles by Glenn Romney and Dè Flanegin then gave Pioniers the lead.
Pirates reacted with a run in the home fifth. Erik Jan Lind hit Ralph Lagas with a pitch, but then retired the next two batters on a flyout. Remco Draijer and Derick Francisca followed with singles, enabling Lagas to score. The two advanced on a throwing error by centerfielder Jefferson Muzo, but were left behind in scoring position when Roderick Simon grounded out.

During the inning, there was some discussion going on around the dug-out of Pioniers, which continued after the at bat when coach Peter Barentsen showed a line-up card to Home Plate Umpire John Beltman, who was shaking his head in reaction. Oddly enough, the discussion continued moments later, while the top of the sixth inning already had started and even had to be interrupted, meaning Pirates-starter Kevin Miner had to wait throwing. Later in the inning, he had to be relieved. After a few minutes, the game continued and later it became clear that the discussion was about Richard Orman, who was going to the bullpen to warm up, wearing another uniform number than mentioned on the line-up card. Initially, Orman didn't got permission to play, but after Barentsen returned and stated that Pirates-outfielder Remco Draijer also played with a different uniform number than listed, the lefthander was permitted to play.
In this inning, Pioniers added two more runs to increase its lead to 4-1. Marcel Venema led off with a hit by pitch and stole second base. With one out, he scored on an error, which enabled Jefferson Muzo to reach second base. Muzo then stole third base and scored on a throwing error by catcher Bas Nooij. Michael Duursma followed with a bunt-single, after which Robin Franken relieved Kevin Miner. The inning ended when Edwin de Graaf grounded into a double play.

In the home sixth, Richard Orman took over the pitching for Pioniers and got three quick outs. But in the seventh inning, Pirates started to come back. Ralph Lagas walked and Björn Henrichs singled. The two moved on a sac-bunt by Bas Nooij, followed by a single from Remco Draijer. Lagas scored, but Henrichs was held at third, while he also might have a scoring chance. With runners on first and third, Derick Francisca was called out for touching the ball, then Roderick Simon struckout.

In the eighth inning, Pirates added another run. Boudewijn van Elswijk walked with one out and reached second base on a throwing error by first baseman Dè Flanegin, who tried to force him after a grounder by Fausto Álvarez. Van Elswijk then stole third base and scored on a force play-grounder by Ralph Lagas. Orman was then relieved by closer Dave Draijer, who ended the inning with a strikeout.

Pioniers then scored an insurance run in the ninth inning off Raban Schalm, who had taken over the inning before. With one out, Michael Duursma was hit by a pitch. Edwin de Graaf then grounded back to Schalm for an inning-ending double play, but Schalm made a throwing error. A single by Glenn Romney then enabled Duursma to score and lift the lead to 5-3. In the home ninth, Draijer retired the side and earned his seventh save of the season.
(August 6)

RHP Satoru Fujii struckout seven batters, walked five and gave up nine hits, five more than his own teammates registered. HCAW got a lot of scoring opportunities, especially in the last four innings. They left 14 runners, including 10 in these four at bats. Sparta/Feyenoord opened the score in the third inning, then hold onto this 1-0 lead for seven innings, before adding three runs in the eighth.

In the third inning, Sil Wagenaar led off with a single and advanced on a sac-bunt by Earmy Isabella. With two outs, Wagenaar moved to third and scored on two consecutive errors by third baseman Gino Henson. The inning then ended when Rutger Veugelers flied out. After this, HCAW-starter Jos de Jong allowed only three more batters to reach base in the next four innings, two on a walk, one on an error, but none of them got beyond first base.

In the eighth inning, Sparta/Feyenoord not only added an insurance run, but increased the lead from 1-0 to 4-0 by scoring three runs, only one of which was earned. Earmy Isabella led off with a walk, then Ramphis Trinidad reached on a bunt-single. The two runners then moved on a sac-bunt by Nick Eppinga, who himself reached first base safely on an error. With the bases loaded, Jeroen Hubert took over for Jos de Jong and saw three runs being scored, who were all being credited to De Jong. First, Isabella scored on a grounder by Sjoerd Hermans on which Eppinga was forced out at second base. Because of this, Hermans became a responsible runner for De Jong. The bases were loaded again when Rutger Veugelers was hit by a pitch, then another force play-grounder followed by Jeffrey Sprott, resulting in a run. Sjoerd Hermans then scored the third run in the inning on a single by his brother Jeroen Hermans.

Trailing 1-0, HCAW was close to the tying run in the sixth inning. Ronald Jaarsma and Sidney de Jong led off with singles, then advanced on a double-steal. After a flyout, Jaarsma tried to score on a grounder to short by Kenny Berkenbosch, but was thrown out at the plate. Berkenbosch was able to reach second base, then the bases were loaded when Bas de Jong was walked intentionally. Satoru Fujii then ended the inning by striking out Martijn Meeuwis.
Another chance to score came in the seventh inning. Juriën Overman led off with a double. Next, pinch-hitter Nick Makkinje singled, but when Overman tried to score, he was thrown out at the plate by the second baseman. A throwing error of a grounder by Gino Henson then resulted in runners on first and third base, followed by a strikeout. The bases were loaded again when Sidney de Jong walked, but this time the inning ended when Ralph Milliard grounded out.
In the eighth, HCAW had runners on first and second with two outs when Fujii struckout Makkinje.
In the ninth inning, now trailing 4-0, the first two batters got on. Gino Henson singled and Ronald Jaarsma walked, then an infield-fly followed, but the bases were loaded once more when Ralph Milliard also walked. The inning, and the game, then ended when Kenny Berkenbosch grounded into a double play.
(August 6)

Neptunus started good, when Johnny Balentina led off the game with an infield-hit, but moments later he was caught stealing after a pick-off. With two outs, they got runners on first and third, but a grounder made an end to the at bat.
Neptunus opened the score in the third inning. Jeroen Sluijter first led off with a single. With two outs, Raily Legito walked and Yuji Nerei was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Next, Sluijter and Legito scored on a single by Lennart Koster, who was 3-for-4 today. These were to be the lone runs scored by Neptunus, as Patrick Beljaards dominated in the next five innings. He only allowed three batters to reach base, with two of them being eliminated in a double play.
In the ninth inning, closer Michiel van Kampen took over, gave up a lead-off single to Lennart Koster, but then retired the next three batters to earn his seventh save of the season.

Diegomar Markwell was supported with two double plays in the first three innings, but then ran into problems in the fourth at bat. With one out and Quincy Bernardus (fielder's choice) on first base, Tjerk Smeets hit an RBI-double and advanced to third on an error. The bases were then loaded when Edward Illidge walked and Roel Koolen was hit by a pitch, but Markwell then recovered and struckout the next two batters.
Kinheim came alongside in the sixth inning when Edward Illidge homered with one out.

After another scoring opportunity ended with a double play in the seventh inning, Kinheim took the lead in the eighth. With one out, Markwell walked Edward Illidge and Roel Koolen and was relieved by Jan Naterop. The lefthander loaded the bases when he hit pinch-hitter Jeffrey Verbij with a pitch. This was Verbij's first at bat since May 27. In that game, he was also hit by a pitch and was unable to play after that due to a broken bone in his hand. Next, Naterop walked Wouter Heemskerk, which gave Kinheim a 3-2 lead. Denny Beljaards then followed with a sac-fly that made it 4-2.
(August 6)

Was the lone in yesterday evening's game scored in the ninth inning, the first run today was registered in the first at bat. In the home of the first inning, Shurty Tremus led off for ADO with a single, moved to second base on a grounder by Berry van Driel and reached third base on a wild pitch by Forstin Coenraad. He then scored on a grounder by Harvey Monte, who today returned to his regular position in centerfield. Yesterday-evening, he played at first base to fill in for the suspended Percy Isenia, who played at first again today.
ADO doubled its lead in the fifth inning. Quensley Bazoer then led off with a bunt-single and advanced on a sac-bunt by Shurty Tremus. After Berry van Driel reached on an error, Bazoer scored on a single by Harvey Monte. Next, the bases were loaded when Percy Isenia also singled, but a double play ended the at bat.
In the sixth inning, Adrian Anthony led off with a double after which Forstin Coenraad was relieved by Jerry Breek, who would allow only one more runner to second base in the remainder of the game.

Almere reached base frequently, but left eleven runners behind, including seven in scoring position. Offensively, Almere got only six basehits, as the ADO-pitching dominated. Two pitchers struckout 16 batters, including seven for Dutch national team-players Eugene Kingsale (2), Ivanon Coffie (2) and Bryan Engelhardt (3), the number one, three and fourth batter in the order respectively. The bottom-four hitters struckout eight times combined.
Japanese starter Akira Okamoto struckout eleven batters in the six innings he pitched and gave up only four hits. In the second inning, he gave up an one-out double to Ferd van Stekelenburg, but then struckout the next two batters. In the third inning, there were runners on first and second with one out when a strikeout and a flyout ended the at bat. In the fourth at bat, Giovanni Samboe led off with a single and moved on a wild pitch, but Okamoto then followed with three strikeouts. In the fifth, Okamoto also ended with a strikeout, this time with runners on first and third base.

In the seventh inning, Alex Smith took over for Okamoto in his first appearance of the season. Last year, the righthander led the ADO-pitching staff with a 2.52 ERA, 117 2/3 innings and 75 strikeouts. He threw in 15 games and was 7-6. After the season, he remained on the ADO-roster, but went on to play professionally. This season, he threw for the Sussex Skyhawks in the Can-Am League (independent), but was released on July 8. Smith, who has a British passport, arrived last Friday in The Hague and today threw three innings, struckout five and earned a save. But he also gave up Almere's lone run.
In the eighth inning, Smith hit lead-off hitter Randy Daal with a pitch, then gave up a single to Ivanon Coffie, but struckout Bryan Engelhardt. The bases were loaded after short stop Shurty Tremus made a throwing error on a force play-grounder by Giovanni Samboe. Next, Smith walked Ferd van Stekelenburg bringing in a run. But with the bases still loaded, Smith struckout Niels van Weert, then Frank van Leeuwen flied out to centerfield to end the inning.
(August 6)

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