...Marcel Venema is tagged out at third... ...3B Evert-Jan 't Hoen awaits him... (Photo: Ron Wicklert - www.eott.nl)

After two innings, it appeared that Neptunus was on its way to a comfortable victory as it led 4-0 by then.
The team opened the score (and the hitting) right away in the first inning. Johnny Balentina led off with a triple and scored on a grounder by next batter Benjamin Dille, but later in the at bat stranded a runner on third base.
Three runs were added in the second inning when Pionier-starter Richard Orman gave up four hits. Evert-Jan 't Hoen, who was 3-for-4, led off with a single and stole second. After Melfried Comenencia struckout, Jeffrey Arends singled. 't Hoen and Arends then scored on a double by Sape Wagenaar, who later scored himself on a 2-out double by Benjamin Dille.

So far, so good for Neptunus, which isn't as dominating as in previous seasons. But in the third inning, Pioniers started to come back off Czech starter Leoš Kubát, who fell behind in the count regularly, just as he did last week. In the third, he walked lead-off hitter Edwin de Graaf, gave up a single to Mark Duursma and loaded the bases by walking Dè Flanegin. De Graaf then scored on a grounder by Glennsig Polonius and Duursma on a sac-fly by Glenn Romney. Kubát then also walked Marcel Venema and Lars Koehorst to re-load the bases, but then the inning ended when he struckout Jefferson Muzo.
In the home third, Neptunus got one run back on a basesloaded walk for Jeffrey Arends, but in the fourth at bat, Pioniers came alongside when Kubát ran into problems again. He first hit lead-off hitter Michael Duursma with a pitch, then gave up a single to Edwin de Graaf. The two runners scored when Mark Duursma followed with a 2-run triple. Moments later, he scored the tying run on a single by Dè Flanegin, which marked the end for the Czech righthander, who was relieved by Jan Naterop.

...Evert-Jan 't Hoen dives back safely into second base... ...2B Jaïr Roseburg is ready to apply the tag after the pick-off... (Photo: Ron Wicklert - www.eott.nl)

Neptunus broke the 5-5 tie with a 3-run rally in the sixth inning when Pionier-starter Richard Orman also got some problems. First, Sape Wagenaar was hit by a pitch. With one out, Benjamin Dille singled. After the two advanced on a grounder, Orman loaded the bases by walking Raily Legito intentionally. The force play set-up however failed when Jurriaan Korff followed with a 2-run single. Tommy van Limburg came in to relief Orman, walked Evert-Jan 't Hoen and gave up a basesloaded, RBI-single to Melfried Comenencia, which made it 8-5.
But again, Neptunus was unable to hold onto the lead, as Pioniers came alongside for a second time. Jan Naterop initially did well for three innings, but then loaded the bases in the seventh. Marcel Venema led off with a single and while Naterop then struckout the next two batters, the bases were loaded when Michael Duursma singled and Edwin de Graaf walked. Naterop was relieved by Gregory Gustina, who saw the lead runner score when short stop Raily Legito committed an error on a grounder by Mark Duursma. Pioniers, however, again stranded three runners.
In the eighth, Pioniers added a run when Glenn Romney singled with one out and scored on a triple by Marcel Venema, who was 3-for-4.
In the ninth, Pioniers tied the score. In this at bat, with one out, Mark Duursma walked and scored on a sac-fly by Glennsig Polonius.

In the home ninth, closer Dave Draijer became the fourth Pionier-pitcher and started with a strikeout. Melfried Comenencia then singled and Jeffrey Arends doubled. Draijer then walked pinch-hitter Lennart Koster intentionally to load the bases. Veteran Johnny Balentina then followed with a sacrifice fly to give Neptunus a win and end the game.
(April 30)

Initially, Pirates' rookie starter Kevin Miner threw three hitless innings, but when the HCAW-batters came the second time around, a 6-run rally in the fourth inning decided the game.
The at bat started when short stop Björn Henrichs committed an error on a hard grounder by Martijn Meeuwis. But then Bart Gabriëls singled, Sidney de Jong hit an RBI-double and Kenny Berkenbosch, who today played at first base, followed with an RBI-single. The next run was scored on a sac-fly by Bas de Jong. The inning wasn't over yet, as rookie third baseman Kevin Gerard made an error on a grounder by Nick Fridsma. After a groundout and a walk for Dimitri Leon, Ronald Jaarsma added a 2-run single to make it 6-0, but only two runs were earned. Robin Franken then took over the pitching and ended the at bat when Martijn Meeuwis flied out.
HCAW scored two more runs in the fifth at bat. Bart Gabriëls led off with a bad-hop (backhand fielded) infield-hit, then Sidney de Jong walked. Next, Kenny Berkenbosch hit a bad-hop single that just went over the head of short stop Björn Henrichs to load the bases. Pirates' Head Coach Louis Hofer however came out of the dug-out to argue that HCAW's Head Coach Maurice DeConge, who coached at third base, had touched runner Gabriëls (after rounding third base), which is not allowed. A brief meeting between Home Plate Umpire Henri van Heijningen and 3B Umpire Fred Groenewegen followed, but the bases remained loaded, as both were unable to have seen any illegal action. Gabriëls then scored on a force-play grounder by Bas de Jong and later in the at bat, Nick Makkinje added an RBI-single.

Pirates scored its lone run in the sixth inning. With one out, Roderick Simon walked and scored when Tyson Arishenkoff doubled, but was later thrown out at third after trying to advance when the ball was relayed back to home plate.
In the first inning, Ralph Lagas was close to a double. With one out and runners on first and second base, Lagas lined the ball into rightfield, but there rookie Nick Makkinje made a nice catch, preventing Pirates from taking an early lead.

HCAW put the game definitively out of reach with a 4-run rally in the home sixth to make it 12-1. Pirates-reliever Robin Franken was hit hard in this at bat, as he gave up a lead-off single to Ronald Jaarsma, RBI-doubles to Martijn Meeuwis and Bart Gabriëls (3-for-4) and an RBI-single to Sidney de Jong. Rightfielder Mark Kan was brought in relief Franken and gave up an one-out RBI-single to Bas de Jong which increased the lead to 12-1.
HCAW-starter Jurjen van Zijl threw six innings in which he gave up only four hits. Cliff Foster threw the seventh inning for HCAW.
(April 30)

For the first time in almost four years, two Japanese pitchers faced each other in a Dutch big league-game, as RHP Satoru Fujii started for Sparta/Feyenoord and RHP Akira Okamoto made his debut for ADO. The only other time that two Japanese pitchers started in the same game came on May 23, 2002 when ADO and Sparta/Feyenoord also played against each other, then in Rotterdam. On that day, Tetsuhiro Monna started for ADO and Hiroaki Fujiwara for Sparta/Feyenoord. Just as today, ADO won the game, 7-2. Coincidentally, two of today's game officials also worked the game in 2002. Today's 1B Umpire Arnold Verbrugge then was behind the plate, while Roger Huys was the Official Scorer in both games. Oh, for the record, today's game lasted only five minutes longer than the one in 2002.
In 2004, there also were two teams with Japanese pitchers when Masanori Yajima played for Sparta/Feyenoord and Keisuke Kohno for Amsterdam Pirates, but these two never pitched against each other in the same game.

Today, both teams stranded ten runners and got frequent scoring opportunities, but the ninth inning was the lone at bat in which the runs were scored.
Akira Okamoto made his debut for ADO by walking the first batter he faced in the first inning and then gave up a single. But after a force play-grounder resulted in a putout, the righthander retired ten of the next eleven batters. In the fifth inning, Sparta/Feyenoord got five batters to reach base, but didn't score.
In the ninth inning, rookie Jurrian Koks took over for Okamoto, who had thrown 107 pitches. With one out, Koks walked Patrick Wabbijn. With two outs, Wabbijn stole second base, then Koks also walked Earmy Isabella and was relieved by Robin van Doornspeek. The righthander gave up a single to Ramphis Trinidad on which Wabbijn scored in a close play at home. Isabella moved to third and Trinidad to second on the throw to home. Next batter Dwayne Kemp then argued balls and strikes with Home Plate Umpire Edwin van den Berk, who ejected the rookie with an 1-2 count. Orson Slaats was brought in as pinch-hitter and completed the at bat, which ended in a strikeout that was credited to Kemp.

ADO was the victim of a double play in the third and fourth inning and left the bases loaded behind in the fifth at bat.
Trailing 1-0, ADO managed to come back in the home ninth with two outs. Satoru Fujii opened the inning by walking pinch-hitter Jermaine Esprit, but then struckout Michel Korzeniewski and Shurty Tremus. Next, Berry van Driel grounded towards third baseman Sil Wagenaar, who had just entered the game as a replament for Dwayne Kemp and had taken over at third base, while third baseman Sjoerd Hermans had moved to second base. Wagenaar fielded the deep grounder, but made a high throw towards first base. Van Driel was credited with an infield-hit and as the speedy Esprit had left on contact, he was able to score the tying run. Former Sparta/Feyenoord-player Marvin Bleij then followed with an RBI-double into centerfield to give ADO a 2-1 win.
(April 30)

Patrick Beljaards started for Kinheim and struckout five in seven innings, while giving up only four basehits. Two of these hits came in the fifth inning when Sidney Ensermo led off with a single and Bryan Engelhardt followed with a bunt-single. The bases were loaded when Beljaards hit next batter Jeffrey de Vrieze with a pitch. But while having the bases loaded with no outs, Almere failed to score, as a strikeout, foul out and flyout followed.
In the sixth, former Kinheim-player Randy Daal led off the inning after being hit by a pitch, but would strand on third base.
Patrick Beljaards was relieved by Duko Jansen, who threw the eighth inning. Michiel van Kampen threw the ninth inning for Kinheim.

Kinheim opened the score in the first inning. With one out, René Cremer, who would reach base four times, was hit by a pitch from starter Forstin Coenraad, who last year pitched for Kinheim. Cremer advanced on a wild pitch, then scored when Dirk van 't Klooster singled. Tjerk Smeets also singled, but a double play ended the inning.
Kinheim added two runs in the third inning. Denny Beljaards led off with a walk and Danny Rombley singled. After a sac-bunt by René Cremer moved Beljaards and Rombley, the two scored when and error was made on a grounder by >Dirk van 't Klooster.
Kinheim then left runners on third base in the fourth and fifth inning, but rallied for three runs in the seventh at bat. Nick Veltkamp, who started the inning in relief of Coenraad, walked lead-off hitter Denny Beljaards. After a groundout, René Cremer followed with an RBI-single. Next, Cremer advanced to third on a failed pick-off, then scored on a single by Dirk van 't Klooster. After Van 't Klooster moved to third on a single by Tjerk Smeets, he scored on a grounder by Edward Illidge to make it 6-0.
Kinheim scored its last run in the eighth inning on an RBI-single by René Cremer, who went 3-for-3.
(April 30)

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