...Tyson Arishenkoff moments before hitting his second homerun... ...Mark Duursma is the catcher; John Beltman the umpire... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Rookie starter Pim Walsma pitched five shutout innings for Pirates in which he gave up no basehits. The son of former national team-player Marten Walsma struckout two and walked three batters and saw only three players reach second base. The righthander was supported with two runs, which proved to be enough for the Amsterdam-squad.
In the first inning, Pirates took a 1-0 lead when Tyson Arishenkoff homered with two outs. It was the second time in two days that Arishenkoff homered in the first at bat and gave Pirates a lead, which proved to be decisive for the game.
After leaving a runner on second base in the second inning and become the victim of a double play in the third inning, Pirates added a run in the fourth at bat. Derick Francisca led off with an infield-hit and advanced on a grounder by Fausto Alvarez. After Ralph Lagas walked, Boudewijn van Elswijk grounder towards third resulted in a force out at second base, but when second baseman Jaïr Roseburg tried to complete a double play, the ball went passed first base, enabling Francisca to score the second run for Pirates. It also marked the end for starting pitcher Erik Jan Lind, who was replaced by Daniël Overbeek. The lefthander came out of the inning on another force play-grounder, then gave up no additional basehits in the next four innings and retired the last eleven batters he faced in a row.

After walking lead-off hitter Michael Duursma in the first inning, Pim Walsma retired seven batters in a row, before Jefferson Muzo reached on an error in the third inning. Walsma was relieved in the sixth by Jan-Willem Geerts, who got two quick outs, but then gave up a single to Dè Flanegin and a double to Mark Duursma, but a grounder ended the at bat.
After three batters were retired in order in the seventh inning, Pioniers came back in the eighth. With one out, Norbert Lokhorst doubled and Glenn Romney walked. Next, Dè Flanegin singled to load the bases. Jan-Willem Geerts was relieved by Maarten Mulder, who walked Mark Duursma to bring in the lone Pioniers-run, as a pop-fly and a force play-grounder ended the inning and secured the win.
(April 8)

In the first five innings, it appeared that HCAW was en route to a victory, as the team was leading 1-0, but seems to be not in trouble. Starting pitcher Jurjen van Zijl gave up five hits in these five innings and survived two runscoring situations. In the first inning, with one out, he gave up a single to René Cremer, who moved on a grounder, then tried to score on a single by Tjerk Smeets, but was thrown out by rightfielder Bas de Jong.
In the fourth inning, Kinheim got the bases loaded off Van Zijl, but again failed to score. The righthander issued a walk to lead-off hitter Jeffrey Verbij and, with one out, gave up singles to Edward Illidge and Roel Koolen. But then Robin Longhurst lined out to short stop Dimitri Leon and Wouter Heemskerk grounded into a force play to end the at bat.

...Ronald Jaarsma flies out in the sixth inning... ...Tjerk Smeets is the catcher... ...Fred van Groningen Schinkel is the umpire... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Kinheim-starter Patrick Beljaards retired ten of the first twelve batters he faced, before giving up back-to-back doubles to Sidney de Jong and Kenny Berkenbosch, which gave HCAW a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Beljaards recovered, retired the next five batters, but then saw HCAW load the bases in the sixth. With one out, Gino Henson reached on an error and Bart Gabriëls and Sidney de Jong singled, but this time Kenny Berkenbosch couldn't produce a runscoring hit and instead grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the home sixth, Kevin Roovers took over the pitching for Jurjen van Zijl and ran into problems right away. He first walked Jeffrey Verbij, then gave up a single to Tjerk Smeets (3-for-4). A grounder by Edward lllidge led to a force out, but then Roel Koolen (3-for-4) singled in the tying run, before a groundout and a strikeout ended the inning.
HCAW was unable to come back off Duko Jansen, who took over for Patrick Beljaards in the seventh inning. But Kinheim was more succesfull in their seventh inning and went on to win the game. Kevin Roovers walked lead-off hitter Denny Beljaards and was relieved by Kenny Berkenbosch. But after leaving the mound, Roovers was ejected by home plate umpire Fred van Groningen Schinkel for 'showing up the umpire'. This was an example of the new (and stricter) 'codes of behavement' that are imposed this season and have to result in less unnecessary discussions. Only managers are allowed to argue calls. Besides that (non-participating) players are not allowed to hang around on the playing field. If they do, they can get a warning and after that even be ejected.
OK, back to the game. Kevin Roovers was replaced by Kenny Berkenbosch, who gave up five hits that result in five runs. First, Denny Beljaards stole second, then Danny Rombley followed with a single. After a groundout, Jeffrey Verbij singled in two runs to give Kinheim a 3-1 lead. Next, Tjerk Smeets singled and Quincy Bernardus walked to load the bases, followed by an RBI-single by Roel Koolen. As the ball was thrown back to the infield, Bernardus overran second base and was tagged out. With runners on second and third base, Robin Longhurst doubled in two runs to make it 6-1, which also was the final score.
(April 8)

Rookie starter Kevin Heijstek gave up seven basehits, walked three batters and trailed 2-1 after four innings, but was supported with five runs in the last two innings (fifth and siixth) of this game to become the winning pitcher.
Neptunus took a 1-0 lead in the third inning off starter Jimmy Summers. With two outs, Jeroen Sluijter walked, stole second and scored on a single by Johnny Balentina.
ADO answered with two runs in the fourth inning. Kevin Heijstek gave up a lead-off homerun to former Neptunian Harvey Monte, then struckout Percy Isenia, but next batter James Rutherford also homered to give ADO a 2-1 lead.

Neptunus re-took the lead in the next at bat. Jimmy Summers hit lead-off batter Jeffrey Arends, then gave up a single to Melfried Comenencia which brought Arends to third base. But then Comenencia was caught stealing, after which Sape Wagenaar hit a sac-fly to tie the score. Jeroen Sluijter then doubled and scored on a single by Johnny Balentina to give Neptunus a 3-2 lead.
In the sixth inning, Neptunus added three runs off its former closer Robin van Doornspeek, who now throws for ADO. With two outs, Evert-Jan 't Hoen was hit by a pitch and Jeffrey Arends walked. A run was then scored on a single by Melfried Comenencia, then the runners move on a wild pitch and both scored on a single by Sape Wagenaar.

ADO had one more big scoring opportunity, which came in the second inning. Harvey Monte (who went 3-for-3) was on second base (double) with one out when James Rutherford also doubled. Monte coudn't score and with runners on second and third, Kalian Sams struckout. The bases were loaded when Michel Korzeniewski walked, but then the inning ended when Shurty Tremus flied out.
Jan Naterop threw the last 2/3 inning for Neptunus to earn a save.
(April 8)

Neptunus led 8-0 after five innings, having scored five runs on homeruns. In a 3-run second inning, Evert-Jan 't Hoen and Melfried Comenencia homered.
After scoring twice in the third inning, Raily Legito added a 2-run homerun in the fourth inning, then Jeffrey Arends homered in the fifth to make it 8-0.

Neptunus-starter Gregory Gustina threw six innings and didn't encounter any problems, as he gave up only three basehits and struckout five. But in the seventh, he almost lost the credit to the victory as a reliever gave up seven runs. Starting in the seventh, Leon de Bijl took over, but gave up five hits, walked two batters, hit another one and also had a wild pitch. With one out, Ivanon Coffie and Sidney Ensermo singled. After the two advanced on a wild pitch, Randy Daal followed with a 2-run double. Pinch-hitter Bryan Engelhardt then walked, after which the bases were loaded when Ricky Daal was hit by a pitch. A run was then scored when pinch-hitter Ferd van Stekelenburg walked. Shaldimar Daantji and Gene Kingsale then followed with back-to-back 2-run doubles to narrow Neptunus' lead to only 8-7. Jan Naterop took over for Leon de Bijl. He got Jason Halman to ground out, hit Ivanon Coffie with a pitch, but then struckout Sidney Ensermo to earn his second save of the day. In the home seventh, Neptunus added three runs to win 11-7.
(April 8)

In the first inning, Almere took a 2-0 lead. Shaldimar Daantji singled and advanced on a passed ball, then scored when an error was made on a sac-bunt by Gene Kingsale, who himself advanced to third base on the play. He then scored when another error was made on a grounder by Jason Halman.
Sparta/Feyenoord got one run back in the second inning when Orson Slaats singled, stole second and scored on a sac-fly by Patrick Wabbijn.
In the fourth inning, the Rotterdam-team tied the score on an RBI-double by Orson Slaats, then took the lead in the next at bat when Marwin Kleinmoedig walked, moved on a sac-bunt and scored on a single by rookie Dwayne Kemp.

In the sixth inning, Sparta/Feyenoord increased its lead to 4-2 off Manuel Dame, who had taken over for starter Forstin Coenraad in the fifth. Dame gave up an infield-hit to Orson Slaats, who would score on a single by Marwin Kleinmoedig. Veteran René Rijst (who just recovered from a knee-injury) then took over for Dame in his first appearance of the season and ended the inning with a groundout.
In the home sixth, Almere tied the score off Satoru Fujii, Sparta/Feyenoord's Japanese starter, who pitched his first game of the year. Fujii walked Randy Daal, who then scored on a mammoth-homerun by Bryan Engelhardt.
(April 8)

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