...Jurriaan Korff is tagged out... ...by 3B Rodney Michel after... ...trying to advance in 3rd inning... (Photo: Ron Wicklert - www.eott.nl)

The game also was one between two teams who more or less surprised in the first four weeks of the season, despite their status of the last years. Imagine this. After last season, Neptunus lost a number of players, including five national team-players. Amongst them last seasons Best Pitcher Rob Cordemans and Dirk van 't Klooster, the Batting Champion and MVP of last season. Since the start of the season, Neptunus had to without RHP Martijn Nijhoff, who was recovering from a slight injury. Recently the team learned that LHP Ferenc Jongejan will be out for the season with a shoulder-injury.
HCAW started the season without three players, who were suspended, including defensive solid short stop Ralph Milliard and recently missed Gino Henson due to family circumstances. Despite this, HCAW led the league and won seven games in a row to set a clubrecord for the start of a season. Neptunus also was in the top-four again and came alongside HCAW last Thursday for the league-lead. This weekend, Martijn Nijhoff is available again for Neptunus, while Gino Henson is back with HCAW, who also can use suspended Utility-player Rodney Michel and RHP Nick Stuifbergen again, improving these teams line-ups.

Neptunus opened the score with three runs in the third inning off starter Patrick de Lange, who was unbeaten and 4-0 before the game and lost his first game of the season.

...Bas de Jong is forced out at second base... ...Short stop Raily Legito completes double play... (Photo: Ron Wicklert - www.eott.nl)

In the third, Neptunus scored its rust with two outs. Raily Legito then singled, as did Yuji Nerei. The bases were loaded when Evert-Jan 't Hoen walked. Next, Jurriaan Korff singled to bring in Legito and Nerei, while 't Hoen advanced to third base on the throw to home plate. Melfried Comenencia then also singled, bringing in 't Hoen. Korff tried to advanced to third base, but was thrown out there to end the inning.
HCAW couldn't come through on starter Diegomar Markwell in the first seven innings. In that period, only one player was able to reach second base, being Sidney de Jong, who led off the second inning with a double. Markwell struckout only two batters, but was supported with three double plays.

But in the eighth inning, HCAW narrowed Neptunus' lead to 3-2. With one out, Markwell walked Bart Gabriëls, who had taken over at third base for Rodney Michel in the fourth inning. Back then, with two outs, Johnny Balentina singled towards third, but when Michel attempted a throw to first base, he hurt his arm and had to leave the game.
After Gabriëls walked, Dimitri Leon reached when second baseman Benjamin Dille made an error on his grounder. Ronald Jaarsma then followed with a single on which Gabriëls scored. It marked the end for Diegomar Markwell, who was relieved by Jan Naterop. After a foul-out, the lefthander gave up an RBI-single to Gino Henson that made it 3-2, but then Sidney de Jong grounded into a force play.
Leading 3-2, Neptunus added an insurance run in the ninth inning. Jos de Jong, who had taken over for Patrick de Lange in the seventh inning, gave up a lead-off single to Johnny Balentina (who was 4-for-5) and a bunt-single to Benjamin Dille. De Jong was relieved by Nick Stuifbergen, who made his first appearance of the season and was greeted with an RBI-single by Raily Legito, who was 3-for-4.
HCAW was unable to come back in the home ninth, as Neptunus turned its fourth double of the game.
(May 13)

Pioniers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. ADO-starter Rob Cordemans walked lead-off hitter Michael Duursma, who then stole second base. After the next two batters bot flied out to centerfield, Duursma scored on a single by Dè Flanegin. The run was to be the only one for Pioniers in this game. With two outs in the second inning, Cordemans gave up a single to Mark-Jan Moorman, but then retired 14 batters in a row, before giving up two singles in the seventh inning, but the two runners would strand.
ADO came alongside in the fifth inning. Pionier-starter Richard Orman also had a fine outing. The lefthander retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced. In the third, he gave up a lead-off single to Marvin Bleij, but he was caught stealing. With two outs in the fifth, Kalian Sams tripled and scored when Marvin Bleij followed with a single.

In the seventh inning, ADO scored three unearned runs to take a 4-1 lead. Harvey Monte led off with a bunt-single, then short stop Michael Duursma made an error on a grounder by Percy Isenia and that proved to be decisive. Monte and Isenia moved on a sac-bunt by James Rutherford, after which the bases were loaded when Richard Orman walked Kalian Sams intentionally. But the creation of a force play failed, as next batter Marvin Bleij flied out. When the error wasn't made, this would have been the third out of the inning. Now it became a sac-fly, as Monte scored. Berry van Driel then followed with a 2-run triple to make it 4-1.

In the ninth at bat, ADO added two more runs, but also saw a player being ejected. With one out, Kalian Sams singled. With two outs, Sams moved to second base when Berry van Driel singled. Shortly after, Sams got into a confrontation with short stop Michael Duursma and was ejected by 3B Umpire Olav Steijger. Quensley Bazoer came in as pinch-runner for Sams. Moments later, Bazoer and Van Driel both scored when Shurty Tremus hit a double.
In the home ninth, Robin van Doornspeek took over for Rob Cordemans. He gave up a lead-off infield-hit to Mark Duursma, but then a double play followed. A single and a walk gave Pioniers two more runners after that, but a fly out ended the game.
(May 13)

Kinheim appeared to open the score right away in the first inning, assisted by Pirates-starter Pim Walsma, who again had problems with his control. The young righthander walked the first two batters he faced, Danny Rombley and René Cremer, to move into a tie for first place with Satoru Fujii (Sparta/Feyenoord) for most walks issued in the league this season (19). But then Dirk van 't Klooster hit a comebacker to Walsma, who retired Cremer at second base. The play could even be turned into a double play, as Rombley overran third base and was thrown out by short stop Tyson Arishenkoff. A grounder by Tjerk Smeets ended the inning, which could have been worse for Pirates, but its defense avoided runs.

...Edward Illidge... ...4-for-4... ...2 Runs, 1 RBI... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

In its first at bat, Pirates took a 1-0 lead. Lead-off hitter Derick Francisca drove the ball into right-centerfield where centerfielder Danny Rombley attempted to made a sliding stop of the ball, but Francisca ended up with a triple. Moments later, he scored when Roderick Simon hit a sac-fly. With two outs, Pirates-starter Pim Walsma suddenly was on his way to the dressing room, as the coaching staff decided to relief him due to his control problems moments before. Ralph Lagas singled with two outs, but a grounder by veteran Edsel Martis ended the at bat.

Robbert van der Pol took over for Walsma in the second inning, but gave up three hits and walked two, that gave Kinheim a 3-1 lead. Edward Illidge led off with a single, then Roel Koolen doubled. Robin Longhurst followed with an RBI-single and advanced on the throw to third base. Wouter Heemskerk then walked to load the bases. A walk for Denny Beljaards resulted in an automatic run, that gave Kinheim the lead. Longhurst scored the third run in the inning on a force play-grounder, but then Van der Pol recovered and got out of the inning.
In the third, he was supported with a double play, but then gave up two unearned runs in the fourth inning. Denny Beljaards led off by reaching on an error by first baseman Ralph Lagas, then Danny Rombley singled. A groundout and a passed ball gave Kinheim the two additional runs. van der Pol again recovered and didn't gave up more runs in the next two innings.

In the seventh inning, Björn Henrichs took over the pitching. Henrichs, who is the short stop for Pirates, is slightly injured and therefore didn't start on his regular position. He gave up a run in the seventh when Edward Illidge (who was 4-for-4) singled and scored on a single by Denny Beljaards. In the eighth, Dirk van 't Klooster doubled and scored on a sac-fly by Illidge.
After giving up a run in the first inning, Kinheim-starter Patrick Beljaards gave up only three more basehits in tghe next six innings he pitched. All three batters would reach second base, but stranded there. Relievers Jimmy van der Veldt and Michiel van Kampen finished the job for Beljaards, by throwing one inning each.
(May 13)

After three scoreless innings, Sparta/Feyenoord scored four unearned runs in the fourth inning. Because of the errors Almere made, only four of the fifteen Sparta/Feyenoord-runs were earned.
In the fourth, Almere committed three errors. Lead-off hitter Sjoerd Hermans reached on an error and Rutger Veugelers walked. Then leftfielder Ferd van Stekelenburg made an error on a flyball by Jeffrey Sprott that loaded the bases. Orson Slaats then grounded to second baseman Randy Daal, who made a throwing error towards home, resulting in two runs and runners on second an third. Next, Almere's Head Coach Carlos Arrindell decided to replace catcher Jeffrey de Vrieze and brought in Jason Halman. After the defense replacement, Nick Eppinga, who started his first game after recovering from an injury, singled in two more runs.
In the fifth inning, five more runs were added, including the only four earned runs. Dwayne Kemp led off with a triple and scored on a single by Sjoerd Hermans. After Martin Kuipers took over the pitching for starter Nick Veltkamp, Rutger Veugelers singled and Jeffrey Sprott hit a 3-run homerun to make it 8-0. Next, Orson Slaats walked and would score later on an error by third baseman Ivanon Coffie.

Trailing 9-0, Almere suddenly came back with a 6-run rally in the seventh inning. Sparta/Feyenoord-starter Elton Koeiman pitched four hitless innings, before giving up a lead-off single in the fifth inning, but then three outs followed. In the first four innings, he only issued two walks, both to Eugene Kingsale. In the sixth, two singles also didn't result in runs, but in the seventh, Almere did score. With the bases loaded, Wesley Bernardus hit a 2-run single, followed by a 2-run double by Eugene Kingsale. With one out, Ivanon Coffie added a 2-run homerun. Last season, Coffie led the league with eight homeruns and also homered eight times in one week during the European Championships in the Czech Republic, but this was only his first fourbagger of the season. Elton Koeiman then ended the inning with a groundout and a strikeout and threw a complete game.

In the home seventh, Sparta/Feyenoord answered with four runs, as Almere added three more errors. In the next at bat, two more unearned runs were added to make it 15-6.
All nine Sparta/Feyenoord-players scored at least once, while eighth of them at least had one basehit. Orson Slaats was the only player without a basehit.
(May 13)

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