Initially, Neptunus trailed 3-0 after two innings, but they managed to come back. Just as it did last Saturday when it trailed 4-0 against Instant Holland Almere '90, but also won.
Czech starter Leoš Kubát again had some problems with his control. In the first inning, he hit the first two batters he faced with a pitch. While this might have hurt batters Michael Duursma and Edwin de Graaf, but it also Kubát himself, as next batter Mark Duursma followed with a 2-run triple to give Pioniers an early 2-0 lead. Kubát then recovered and struckout two of the next three batters, while another grounded out, ending the inning.
In the second at bat, Pioniers added a run. Mark-Jan Moorman led off with a single and advanced on a sac-bunt and a grounder. Kubát then hit Michael Duursma again with a pitch. Again that hurt the Czech righthander, as this time Edwin de Graaf followed with an RBI-single.

...Gregory Gustina... ...winning pitcher... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Neptunus came back with three runs in the third inning to tie the score. Jeroen Sluijter led off with a single and Johnny Balentina followed with a double. No one moved when Benjamin Dille then grounded out, but Sluijter was able to score when Raily Legito also grounded out. Pionier-starter Roger Kops then loaded the bases by walking Yuji Nerei and Jurriaan Korff. Veteran Melfried Comenencia then followed with a 2-run single to tie the score, before the inning ended with a flyout.

Leoš Kubát failed to hold onto the lead, as his controlproblems continued. With one out, he walked Glennsig Polonius and with two outs, Mark-Jan Moorman also walked. The Czech was then relieved by Gregory Gustina, but the big lefthander was greeted with a RBI-single by Lars Koehorst, which gave Pioniers a renewed lead. The bases were then loaded when Jefferson Muzo reached on a bunt-single, but a foul fly ended the at bat.
That also ended the runproduction for Pioniers, as Gustina did a fine job completing the game. From the fourth, he threw five hitless innings, before giving up a single to Michael Duursma in the ninth inning. Only one more Pionier-player would reach second base in the remainder of the game.

On the other hand, Pioniers failed to hold onto the lead for the second time, as two errors contributed to five unearned runs in the seventh inning. Pionier-starter Roger Kops gave up a lead-off single to Benjamin Dille in that at bat, then next batter Raily Legito reached second base on a throwing error by third baseman Lars Koehorst. A walk for Yuji Nerei loaded the bases. Still leading 4-3, Daniël Overbeek took over for Kops, but saw the tying run being scored on a comeback grounder by Jurriaan Korff. An error by short stop Michael Duursma on a grounder by Melfried Comenencia then enabled Legito to score the go-ahead run. Jeffrey Arends followed with an RBI-single. And after striking out pinch-hitter Lennart Koster, Overbeek also gave up RBI-singles to Jeroen Sluijter and Johnny Balentina that lifted the score to 8-4. Tommy van Limburg came in to relief Overbeek, but while he didn't gave up additional runs, Pioniers was unable to come back again.
(May 11)

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