Intercontinental Cup
Netherlands vs. Korea
November 15, 2006
Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2006 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch win big and clinch semi-final
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
TAICHUNG (Taiwan) - The Dutch Baseball Team on Wednesday-afternoon won big vs. Korea, 13-2, and clinched a spot in the semi-finals of the Intercontinental Cup-tournament in Taiwan. The Dutch team finished the game in eight innings with this 10-run difference mercy-rule victory. This marks the first time that the Dutch team reaches the Intercontinental Cup semi-finals. On Thursday, the Dutch team closes the preliminary round against Australia, which has a chance of becoming the fourth team to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-final, scheduled for Saturday, the Dutch team will meet either Cuba or Japan. The final will be played on Sunday.
After playing the first five games in the old Taichung Baseball Stadium, the Dutch team today became the last team to play in the newly build Intercontinental Stadium.

The victory is only the fifth in history against Korea and this feat was accomplished in the 25th meeting between the two countries. The first three victories were won with only a one-run margin, including the very first game between the two countries on June 28, 1976 (2-1), which was played on the Haarlem Baseball Week in The Netherlands. Last year, during the World Cup, held in the Netherlands, the Dutch team defeated Korea 6-1 in the preliminary round and that was the first victory against the Asian squad since 1988. A few days later, Korea recovered and shutout the Dutch team, 7-0, in the semi-final to reach the World Cup final. The 13 runs against Korea equals the total of runs scored by the Dutch in the last six games, before today, vs. the Asians, dating back to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA). In the last four games between the two countries, the Dutch were shutout three times.

Dutch victories vs. Korea
DateEventScore
June 28, 1976Haarlem Baseball Week (Neth.)1-2
August 13, 1978Haarlem Baseball Week (Neth.)5-4
November 25, 1988Chung Hua Cup (Taiwan)7-6
September 4, 2005World Cup (Netherlands)6-1
November 15, 2006Intercontinental Cup (Taiwan)2-13
(Grand Slam * Stats & News / MS)
The game started about 40 minutes later than scheduled, due to a rain-delay. That there were winning possibilities today became clear in the first two innings when the Dutch team reached base six times. In the first inning, Korean starter Min-Wook Seo had problems with his control. He hit lead-off batter Eugene Kingsale and also walked two batters. In the second at bat, he gave up two singles.

After the Dutch team was unable to score in these two at bats, it broke open the game with a 7-run rally in the third inning to decide the game. Dirk van 't Klooster led off with an infield-hit, then Sharnol Adriana walked. The two scored when Ivanon Coffie followed with a triple, then scored himself on a single by Sidney de Jong. A pitching change followed, but reliever Saung-Hwan Ji also couldn't stop the Dutch offense. He was greeted with a single by Raily Legito, then, after a groundout, gave up an RBI-single to Danny Rombley. The bases were then loaded when Ji hit Michael Duursma with a pitch, resulting in another pitching change. Sung-Heon Lim, however, started by hitting Eugene Kingsale with a pitch, giving the Dutch another run. In his second at bat in this inning, Dirk van 't Klooster produced his second single, enabling Rombley and Duursma to score and lift the lead to 7-0. A double play finally ended the inning.


...Ivanon Coffie...
...triple, homerun...
...2 Runs, 3 RBI's...
(Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)
In the fifth inning, the Dutch added a run when Michael Duursma was hit by a pitch again with two outs, then later scored on a single by Dirk van 't Klooster, who was 3-for-5 and had three RBI's and seems to be recovered completely from his rib-injury.

In the meantime, Dutch starter Diegomar Markwell got out of two runscoring situations in the first two innings. In the first, he walked the lead-off hitter, while another batter reached base on an error, but the lefthander was supported with a double play. In the second inning, Korea got two runners on base with only one out, but a force play-grounder and a strikeout ended this chance. Markwell then struckout four batters in the next two innings, including three in the fourth at bat and helped himself with a double play in the third on a comeback line-drive. In the fifth inning, he gave up the first Korean run. Tae-Won Lee led off with a double, moved on an infield-hit, then scored on a single by Young-Seop Bae. But then the Dutch defense turned its third play, before Markwell ended the inning with a strikeout. In the sixth inning, the Dutch team got the run back when Ivanon Coffie hit his second homerun of the tournament.

Nick Stuifbergen took over the pitching in the sixth inning and gave up the second Korean run in the seventh inning. With one out, the run was again scored by Tai-Won Lee, who scored on a single by Seung-Min Hur.

The Dutch team reached the 10-run difference in the eighth inning by scoring four runs. With one out, Sharnol Adriana singled and later scored on a single by Raily Legito. In between, Sidney de Jong had reached on a fielder's choice. De Jong and Legito then scored when Percy Isenia also hit his second homerun of the event to make it 13-2.
In the home of the eighth, Korea got two runners on, but was unable to add more runs. As Stuifbergen pitched three effective innings, he earned a save in this first-ever 10-run victory by the Dutch team vs. Korea.

Complete Play-by-Play Netherlands vs. Korea (Game Six)
Box Score Netherlands vs. Korea (Game Six)

Also on Wednesday...
Japan beat Italy, 6-3, with Dutch umpire Edwin van den Berk behind the plate.
In the afternoon, Cuba shutout Australia, 13-0, in a rain-shortened game, which lasted only 4 1/2 inning. Dutchman Feiko Drost was the Official Scorer, while Jan Esselman was Technical Commissioner.
The evening-game also was shortened by rain and lasted six innings. In this game, Taiwan shutout the Philippines, 14-0.
(November 15)


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Last Update: November 15, 2006
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