Baseball Recap Netherlands vs. Eckerd College February 26, 2006

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2006 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch also win second exhibition game
Nederlands
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (USA) - On Sunday-afternoon (February 26), the Dutch National Baseball Team also won its second of four exhibition games which are being played in Florida as preparation for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
At St. Petersburg, the Dutch squad registered a 10-0 shutout against the Tritons, the baseball-team of Eckerd College, whom they defeated 3-1 on Friday-evening to open the series.
The next game will be played on Tuesday-evening in Clearwater when the Dutch team faces the Spartans, the team of The University of Tampa. The series will close next Sunday against the Atlanta Braves Major League-team.

Meanwhile, Team Japan also has played two exhibition games in its preparations for the World Baseball Classic. On Saturday, the team was beaten 4-3 by the Nippon Professional Baseball All Stars in Fukuoka. In the same city, the Japanese team won 5-1 on Sunday vs. the Chiba Lotte Marines, which last year won the Japan Series. Japan will play its last exhibition game on Wednesday at Tokyo vs. the Yomiuri Giants. The Asian round of the WBC opens op March 3 with the game between Korea and Taiwan. In the evening, Japan plays its first game vs. China. The Asian pool will be played in Tokyo.

As he did in the opening game, Dutch Manager again used several pitchers. After using five in the opener, tonight Eenhoorn send six pitchers to the mound. Rob Cordemans started and thre three innings. The righthander was followed by two rookies, who made their national team debut. First, Jair Jurrjens pitched two innings, next Kenny Berkenbosch threw one inning. Forstin Coenraad, who made his debut last year during the European Championships in the Czech Republic, was the fourth pitcher and also threw one inning. Next, Robin van Doornspeek also pitched one inning. The closer for Sunday's game was Dave Draijer, who threw the remaining ninth inning. During the World Baseball Classic, their also will be several pitching changes during the game for all teams, as pitchers will be limited to a pitch-count, according to tournament rules.

...Dirk van 't Klooster... ...2-for-5, 3 RBI's, Run... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

After leading 2-0 after six innings, the Dutch team added eight runs in the last three at bats. Offensively, the team had 15 basehits.
Centerfielder Dirk van 't Klooster, last years League MVP, who this season will play for Corendon Kinheim, had a fine afternoon, as he went 2-for-5, had three RBI's and scored a run. Eugene Kingsale contributed with two doubles, an RBI and scored twice, while Michael Duursma singled twice, also had one RBI and scored once. Maikel Benner, who entered the game in the sixth when he took over the catching from Sidney de Jong, doubled and singled, scored twice and had an RBI. In the first six innings, the Dutch offense produced two runs on five hits. But in the last three innings, eight runs were scored on ten hits.

After reaching base only once in the first three innings, the Dutch team opened the score in the fourth. Eugene Kingsale led off with a walk, stole second, moved on a grounder by Randall Simon and scored on a single by Sidney de Jong. With two outs, Percy Isenia doubled, but no other run was added in this at bat.
In the fifth, a run was scored with two outs. Danny Rombley led off with a walk, but was caught stealing after a pick-off. After a groundout, Michael Duursma singled and scored all the way from first on a double by Eugene Kingsale.
Another run was added in the seventh inning. Lead-off hitter Dirk van 't Klooster reached when his flyball was missed in rightfield, then moved to third on a one-out single by Hainley Statia and scored on a single by Michael Duursma.

The most productive at bats were the eighth and ninth inning, which gave the team seven runs.
In the eighth, Maikel Benner led off with a double, after which the bases were loaded when Vince Rooi and pinch-hitter Johnny Balentina singled. A force play-grounder by Harvey Monte resulted in a run and when the Eckerd-defense tried to complete a double play, a throwing error gave the Dutch another run.
In the ninth inning, Eugene Kingsale opened with his second double of the game. Next, Sharnol Adriana and Maikel Benner singled. No runs were scored, but the bases were loaded. Vince Rooi then brought in a run when he walked. With one out, Dirk van 't Klooster added a 2-run double, followed by a sac-fly by Harvey Monte to make it 10-0.

Eckerd College had only six basehits, four of which came off of Jair Jurrjens, who pitched the fourth and fifth inning. Starter Rob Cordemans allowed only two batters to reach base in the three innings he pitched. After retiring the first seven batters he faced, he gave up a single, then hit the next batter with a pitch, before the inning ended on a strikeout and a flyout. This season, Cordemans (the Best Pitcher of last year) will pitch for a new team for the first time in his Dutch big league-career, changing DOOR Neptunus for ADO.
The Tritons were the most productive off of Jair Jurrjens, but were unable to score. The team led off with a single in the fourth, but two quick outs followed, before another single was registered. A force out ended the inning. In the fifth, the team got the bases loaded with one out on two hits, an error and two fielders choice-grounders, but a flyout and another force play-grounder avoided Eckerd from scoring a run.
The team got another runner on second base in the seventh inning, but again he stranded. Robin van Doornspeek and Dave Draijer then closed the game by retiring the side in the eighth and ninth inning respectively.

Manager Robert Eenhoorn again used all 15 available position players in today's game. On Friday, 20 players participated in the game, this time 21 as one extra pitcher was used. In the two games, Eenhoorn now has used 26 players of his 29-man roster. Three pitchers have not seen action yet: Calvin Maduro, Diegomar Markwell and Shairon Martis.
Pitcher Simon Pantophlet will arrive soon from St. Martin, while Major Leaguer Andruw Jones, Major League-roster players Wladimir Balentien and Yurendell DeCaster and Major League Spring Training-invitee Chairon Isenia will join the team on Thursday.

Today's game was postponed one-and-a-half hour to prepare the field after it had rained heavily all night. In the morning hours, the rain disappeared and a steady wind blew the field dry, but just to make sure, it was agreed to start the game at a later time. It remained dry and even became sunnier for the remainder of the day, meaning the game could be played under good conditions.
(February 26-27)

Box Score
Complete Play-by-Play Game Two Eckerd College vs. Netherlands