Pioniers scored three unearned runs in the first inning on three hits. With one out, Marcel Venema singled and advanced on a passed ball, then moved to third base when next batter Mark-Jan Moorman grounded out to starting pitcher Joey Eijpe. Next, an error was made on a grounder by former HCAW-catcher Nick Fridsma, which would have been the third out in the inning, but now accounted for a run and a runner on first base. Singles by Michael Duursma and Glennsig Polonius enabled Fridsma to score the second run. Moments later, Duursma scored on a wild pitch.
The fourth run was added in the next inning and also was unearned. With one out, Jefferson Muzo singled. The speedy runner then reached third base when rookie catcher Stefan Hoogewerff made an errant throw towards first base in a pick-off attempt. Next, Muzo scored when Marcel Venema followed with a groundout.

HCAW answered with two runs in the home of the second inning. Erik Jan Lind, who had retired the side in the first inning, walked lead-off batter Stefan Hoogewerff, then gave up singles to Sebastiaan Olgers and Bart Gabriëls to load the bases. An error on a grounder by Juriën Overman resulted in a run and kept the bases loaded. After Ronald Jaarsma flied out, Olgers scored when Shurty Tremus followed with a single. But the inning then ended when Sergio Koelemij grounded into a double play. HCAW had three basehits in this inning, which were the only ones hit in this game by the Bussum-team.

Pioniers got one run back in the fourth inning when Norbert Lokhorst led off with a single and later scored on a double play-grounder by Jefferson Muzo. After not scoring for three innings, HCAW came back with a run in the sixth to make it 5-3. In the fourth inning, Pioniers' second pitcher Daan de Jong walked two batters with two outs, but the two runners would strand. In the fifth at bat, Tommy van Limburg took over the pitching and walked lead-off hitter Shurty Tremus, who was eliminated on a force play-grounder, but then two more walks loaded the bases. HCAW however didn't score and left three runners behind, as Sidney Ensermo grounded into a double play. Now, in the sixth, HCAW did score. Pinch-hitter Gerson Tremus (a non-roster player from the second team) reached base when an error was made on his grounder, then Sebastiaan Olgers walked. Rookie Ramon Romeyn came in to relief Van Limburg and struckout Bart Gabriëls, but then hit next batter Juriën Overman to load the bases and walked Ronald Jaarsma, bringing in a run. But HCAW again left three runners behind as Shurty Tremus was called out on an infield-fly and Sergio Koelemij grounded out.

Pioniers scored another run in the eighth inning, which was the only that was earned. New pitcher Kyle Ward (another non-roster player from the second team) gave up a single to lead-off hitter Michael Duursma, then walked Glenn Romney with one out and gave up another single to Norbert Lokhorst, which loaded the bases. After a pop-fly out, Duursma scored on a single by Jefferson Muzo, but this time Pioniers also would strand three runners.
(March 11)

...Derrick Francisca... ...3-for-5, 3 Runs, 2 RBI's... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Almere had 12 basehits, but was unable to score in the first three innings. In the first inning, Wesley Bernardus and newcomer Emeron Lourens, who is the newphew of Head Coach Ritchie Daal, both walked, but then starter Shane Genade retired the next seven batters in a row, before giving up an infield-hit in the third inning to Bernardus. Hereafter, Kenny van Kampen took over the pitching and ended the inning.
Almere scored its first two runs in the fourth at bat. Bryan Engelhardt walked and Randy Daal singled, then the two moved on a double-steal and a passed ball, resulting in the first run. After Jeffrey de Vrieze and Frank van Leeuwen struckout, Daal scored on a single by Niels van Weert.

Two runs were added in the fifth inning. With one out, Emeron Lourens (fielder's choice) scored on a double by Derrick Francisca, who came over to Almere after having played last season for Amsterdam Pirates. Francisca advanced to third base on the throw to home, then scored when a throwing error by the catcher followed. After next batter Bryan Engelhardt lined out to centerfield, Van Kampen was relieved by Jeroen Vos, who had a fine outing. He retired the first three batters he faced with a strikeout and allowed only two batters to reach base, before he was relieved in the seventh by Danique Siervogel. He would give up a run, as Derrick Francisca reached on an infield-hit with two outs, moved on a walk, then scored on two wild pitches.

In the eighth inning, Almere rallied for seven runs off new pitcher Kevin Koeleman. In this at bat, Ricky Daal (2-run), Derrick Francisca (1-run) and Bryan Engelhardt (2-run) all doubled, while the other runs were scored on an error and a single by Frank van Leeuwen. In his first game in an Almere-uniform, Derrick Francisca went 3-for-5 (two doubles), scored three runs and had two RBI's.
(March 11)

Neptunus scored its first five runs off starter Berry van Driel, one of only three (!) pitchers currently on the ADO-roster. RHP Rob Cordemans is in Taiwan, RHP Alex Smith, who was to come to The Hague, signed a contract in the Independent League, and RHP Jurrian Koks is studying in the USA. This means that Van Driel, RHP Dennis Burgersdijk and RHP Robin van Doornspeek is all new Head Coach Wim Martinus has to work with at the moment. Martinus and ADO hopes to resolve their pitching problems in the coming weeks, as only Van Driel and Burgersdijk are starters. In the first inning, Neptunus opened the score. With one out, Van Driel, who had some control problems in his first exhibition start, hit batter Benjamin Dille with a pitch. Next, Raily Legito doubled to score Dille. After Evert-Jan 't Hoen fouled out, Van Driel also hit Lennart Koster with a pitch, but hereafter a flyout ended the inning.

...Johnny Balentina... (Photo: Arie-Jan Lam)

...Berry van Driel... ...ADO-starter... (Photo: Arie-Jan Lam)

Four runs were added in the third inning. In the inning before, the first two Neptunian batters had reached base, but then a double play and a pop-fly followed. In the third, Benjamin Dille reached on an error with one out, then Raily Legito became Van Driel's third victim and was hit by a pitch. Evert-Jan 't Hoen followed with an RBI-single, followed by a flyout by Lennart Koster, enabling Legito to reach third base. He then scored on an infield-hit by newcomer Martijn Meeuwis, who played in the outfield the last two seasons with Mr. Cocker HCAW, but this season will be Neptunus' prime catcher. Two runs were scored hereafter when Jeffrey Arends doubled.

ADO narrowed the deficit to 5-3 by scoring three runs in the fifth inning. Gregory Gustina, who had followed starter Jurjen van Zijl in the third inning, gave up a lead-off single to Jermaine Esprit and was relieved by Martijn Nijhoff, who gave up four hits in his two innings pitched. After a flyout, Nijhoff gave up a double to former teammate Percy Isenia, who last year played in his first season with ADO after having played several seasons for Neptunus. Isenia moved to third on a grounder by former Pirate Boudewijn van Elswijk, who returned to his former team after last season. Next, Nijhoff walked Jason Halman, who came to ADO from Instant Holland Almere '90, followed by a 2-run double by Adrian Anthony, who also had doubled in the third inning and is a former player of the Neptunus-club.

Neptunus got the three runs back immediately in the next at bat off Dennis Burgersdijk, who had come on in the fourth inning. Jeffrey Arends (who was 3-for-3) led off the sixth with his second double of the day, then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jurriaan Korff. Next, Korff was retired on a force play-grounder by Jeroen Sluijter, who later scored on a double by Melfried Comenencia. After a flyout, Comenencia scored on a single by Benjamin Dille.
ADO was able to score only one more run and that happened in the seventh inning. Martijn Nijhoff walked lead-off hitter Jaïr Roseburg and was relieved by Jan Naterop. The lefthander was greeted with an RBI-double by Jermaine Esprit, before retiring the next six batters he faced. Esprit's double was the eighth in the game, four by each team.
(March 11)

...Fausto Álvarez Rizo... ...2-run double... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Just like yesterday, Pirates decided the game right away in the first inning. After scoring four runs yesterday in the opening at bat, Pirates today rallied for six runs in the first inning, five of them earned. All runs were scored with one out. After lead-off hitter Remco Draijer grounded out, Zaïr Koeiman walked and Sidney de Jong reached on an error. After the two advanced on a passed ball, the bases were loaded when Kenny Berkenbosch also walked. The first two runs were then scored when next hitter Fausto Álvarez Rizo doubled. The bases were loaded again when Alcmaria-starter Joran Klarenbeek hit Bas de Jong with a pitch, then gave up a 2-run double to Roderick Simon, which was followed by a 2-run single by Djurvin Cleofa. While Björn Henrichs, the ninth batter in the inning, also singled, no more runs were added, as a flyout and a force play-grounder followed.
Klarenbeek recovered after the first inning and threw two scoreless innings in which he faced only six batters, before being relieved by René van Veen in the fourth inning. Van Veen gave up two additional runs in the fourth. He first walked lead-off hitter Björn Henrichs, then saw Zaïr Koeiman reach on an infield-hit with one out and loaded the bases by walking Sidney de Jong. Hereafter, Kenny Berkenbosch followed with a 2-run double, while De Jong was thrown out trying to reach third base.

After leaving three runners in the fifth inning, Pirates scored two more runs in the sixth at bat. Melvin Pluijmers, who had taken over the pitching in the previous inning, started by hitting Sidney de Jong with a pitch, then gave up an infield-hit to Kenny Berkenbosch. With one out, the bases were loaded again when Bas de Jong walked. RBI-singles by Roderick Simon and Roy Harteveld then increased the lead to 10-0. Next, Bas de Jong was forced out at home on a grounder by Björn Henrichs, before a grounder followed to end the inning, leaving three runners behind.

Alcmaria Victrix reached third base only twice, both times by Michael Pluijmers. In the first inning, he led off with a single and was left at third base, in the third, he reached on an error, after which Alcmaria loaded the bases on another error and a walk, but a strikeout and a flyout prevented the Alkmaar-squad from scoring a run.
In the sixth inning, Alcmaria got two runners on when Ludrick Pieter was hit by a pitch with one out and Martin de Boer reached on an infield-hit, but failed to score again. In the seventh, Rob van de Kamer led off with a hit by pitch, but this time Pirates turned a double play, before the third out followed.

Pirate-catcher Sidney de Jong again reached base in all of his five at bats, just as he did yesterday. He now has reached base eleven times in his first 14 at bats of the exhibition season.
(March 11)

Before playing against Blue Birds, RCH already had played an intrasquad game in the morning. In the afternoon-game, 36 players were used, including 21 by RCH, which currently combines the players of the first and second team in one squad. Besides using three pitches, new RCH Head Coach Guus van Dee changed his entire team after four innings and replaced it with nine new players. His colleague Michael Martha started with ten players in his batting order, added two more in the fourth, used four pitchers and made a lot of defensive changes.

Blue Birds, which has ten former big league-players (most of them former Sparta/Feyenoord-players) on its roster, opened the score with two runs in the second inning off starter Alexander Plakke. Rodiaan Gijselaar led off with a single and Maarten Visser reached on an error. Another error on a grounder by Marco Metz led to a run, then the second run was scored on a single by Otto Krüse. Remco Seitzinger also singled to load the bases, but then next batter Bas v.d. Leeuw grounded into a 5-2-3 double play, followed by another groundout.
With a runner on second base and one out in the third inning, Plakke struckout Berti Richardson and was replaced by Bobbie van Duuren, who last year played for Amsterdam Pirates. The righthander had a fine outing, as he retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced, including the first nine. He then gave up a double to Frans Richardson with two outs in the sixth, but then a groundout followed.
Blue Birds added three runs off Marcel Timmer, who relieved Van Duuren in the seventh inning. Berti Richardson led off with an infield-hit, then scored when next batter Rodiaan Gijselaar homered. In the eighth inning, Jason Benito, who was one of the two players added to the batting order in the fourth inning, also homered to make it 5-0.

RCH had only four basehits, two each by the two teams it used. After stranding a runner in the first and second inning, newcomer Giovanni Josefa (who last year played for First Divisionist Amsterdam Pirates 2) doubled, but would strand on third base. In the fourth inning, Robbert Vogel doubled with two outs.
After the complete change of teams after four innings, Nick Heij led off the fifth inning with a single and stole second and third base, but remained there, as former Sparta/Feyenoord-pitcher David Gerkema struckout next batters Maarten Bos and Jim Leijenaar and end the inning with a comeback-grounder by Churandy la Cruz, who played for the team two years ago, but last season played in the Antilles. In the sixth inning, RCH saw its first two batters reach base off new pitcher Marco Metz on a walk and an error, but then three outs followed, including two strikeouts. In the eighth at bat, RCH got its first three batters to reach base. New pitcher and former ADO-hurler Tjibbe van Dijk hit lead-off hitter Churandy la Cruz with a pitch, then walked Bobby Heij after Lacroes had stole second base. Next, an error was made on a grounder by Alex Vogel, but Lacroes overran third base on the play and was tagged out by short stop Berti Richardson, who had covered the play and fielded the ball. Van Dijk then ended the inning with two strikeouts. In the ninth inning, Nick Heij doubled with one out, but now two flyouts followed to end the game.
(March 11)