Dutch Hoofdklasse, Saturday May 30

On day two of round seven the following games were scheduled:

Pronto DSS @ HCAW; Vaessen Pioniers @ Corendon Kinheim; L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Curacao Neptunus and  Mampaey the Hawks @ UVV

This is the final round of the first half of the season. Three teams were still in the race to clinch a play off spot.

Pronto DSS @ HCAW  5 – 3

With only two basehits, Pronto DSS managed to take a 1-0  lead in the first inning. Mark Smit led off with a single and advanced to second on a sac bunt hit by Lex Leijenaar.  Smit advanced to third on a wild pitch by Maickel Rietel and eventually scored on a single by Ryan Miner. HCAW bounced back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jarreau Martina doubled down the left field line followed by a 4-3 ground out hit by Peter van Doesburg, that made him advance to third base. Martina scored on a wild pitch by Jorn van Ingen.
But DSS answered immediately in the top of the fifth inning when they scored two runs with two outs already. HCAW answered in the bottom of the fifth by cutting DSS’ lead in half. But the team failed to take advantage of a couple of fielding errors. With one out and with Max Clarijs at first (thanks to a missed catch) and Rowan van Hoek at third, Jarreau Martina flew out. Rowan van Hoek tagged to score the run and Max Clarijs tried to reach second base on the throw towards home. DSS catcher Shane Boeree threw the ball to second base where Clarijs was tagged out. Eventually DSS managed to score two more runs and HCAW only one, so DSS clinched the 5-3 victory.
Mike Groen earned the win for DSS as he pitched 1.2 innings in relief in a perfect fashion. He struck out one hitter. Maickel Rietel took the loss. He was pulled after 6.2 innings in which he gave up all five runs on seven hits. Rietel struck out two and walked two. Best hitter for DSS was Ryan Miner, who collected three hits out of five at bats with a double and two RBI. HCAW only got two hits. Jarreau Martina and Raoull Kortstam both went 1 for 3. Martina hit a double and drove in a run.

Mampaey the Hawks @ UVV  0 – 2

In a low scoring game, Mampaey the Hawks was almost the equal of UVV.  With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Omar Williams doubled to right center field, followed by a single towards third base hit by Mike Bazuin. A sac fly to center field, hit by Norbert Jongerius, drove in Williams for the opening run.
In the bottom of the fourth, Evan Simons issued two consecutive walks. When Omar Williams laid down a sacrifice bunt, bot Tony Enos and Dennis de Quint advanced one base. A sacrifice fly by Mike Bazuin drove in Enos for the second and final run of the game. A play that deserves some attention was the one made by Hawks’ second baseman Ruben Berend. With runners on third and second in the sixth, UVV’s Mike Bazuin hit the ball towards Berend who fielded the ball cleanly and threw it to catcher Brian Raap, who tagged out Tony Enos, who tried to score from third.
Jim Ploeger pitched 5.2 innings for the win. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out six.
Evan Simons lasted one inning longer as he allowed two hits on five runs for the loss. He walked two and struck out one. Best hitter for UVV was Omar Williams. He went 2 for 3 with a double and one run scored.
Once again Steven Wharwood was the best hitter for Mampaey the Hawks as he collected two hits out of four at bats.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Curacao Neptunus  1 – 3

After Friday’s game in Amsterdam was rained out, both teams met in Rotterdam to play the game that was meant to be played tomorrow. But since both teams will play in European Cup tournaments, the games were moved forward. The rained out game will be played on June 9.
On to today’s game. Curacao Neptunus took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Benjamin Dille singled with one out and advanced to second on the basehit by Raily Legito to right center field. Right fielder Linoy Croes then committed a fielding error that made Benjamin Dille advance to third base. When second baseman Nick Urbanus made a throwing error with the relay throw to home plate, Dille scored the opening run.Raily Legito advanced to second on the fielding error and moved to third on the throw towards homeplate.
Gianison Boekhoudt followed with a hit to shorstop Michael Duursma, who committed the third error of the inning that allowed Legito to score the second run for Neptunus.
Linoy Croes led off the third inning with a bunt. The surprise was so big that Orlando Yntema threw the ball almost passed first base. If first baseman Rien Vernooij had not stepped off the base, the ball would have sailed into right field. After Michael Duursma drew a walk, Linoy Croes stole third base and touched home plate on a single hit by Nick Urbanus.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tom de Blok replaced Kyle Ward on the mound. After retiring the first two hitters, De Blok couldn’t get out of the inning. Dwayne Kemp got on base on a throwing error by shortstop Nick Urbanus. First Kemp stayed on first base, but the umpires decided that he was allowed to advance to second base, apparently because the ball wasn’t clear anymore (the explanation of the stadium announcer didn’t make much clear to me 🙁 ). Kemp scored the insurance run on a single by Rien Vernooij towards left field.
Orlando Yntema was pulled after only three innings, so he didn’t pitch enough innings for the win. That honor went to Kenny van den Branden. He also pitched three innings and allowed just one hit, walked two and fanned four. Kyle Ward took the loss. In six innings he allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits. He walked two and struck out one. Best hitter for Neptunus was Rien Vernooij with one hit out of two at bats and a walk.

Vaessen Pioniers @ Corendon Kinheim  7 – 8

In a game in which the score went back and forth, Corendon Kinheim managed to stay at the right score in the end. Vaessen Pioniers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning but Kinheim tied it in the bottom of the third. Then Pioniers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth and added another run in the top of the fifth. Kinheim tied it again in the bottom of the fifth after scoring two runs. The sixth inning would be a big one for both teams. Daniel Fernandes led off the inning with a single through the middle of the infield, followed by Max Draijer who laid down a bunt towards third base and reached first base safely on a throwing error by third baseman Kevin Moesquit. With one out, Fernandes advanced to third base on a fly out hit by Dirk van ‘t Klooster. After Quintin de Cuba loaded the bases on a walk, Vince Rooi hit a grandslam over the left center field wall to give Pioniers a 7-3 lead. But singles by Victor Draijer and Jochem Koedijk, followed by doubles by Kevin Moesquit and Mervin Gario, brought Kinheim within one run of Pioniers in the bottom of the sixth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Dashenko Ricardo got on base thanks to a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on an error by left fielder Kevin Dirksen. Dashenko Ricardo eventually scored on a single by Niels van Weert. Van Weert advanced to second base on the throwing error by shortstop Max Draijer.  A double by Jochem Koedijk drove in Van Weert for the game winning run.
Arshwin Asjes pitched the final inning for Kinheim and earned the win despite giving up two walks. Bayron Cornelisse took the loss as he gave up the two final runs that Kinheim scored in 0.2 innings.
Best hitter for Kinheim was lead off hitter Kevin Moesquit,who went 3 for 4 with two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored.  Daniel Fernandes went 3 for 3 for Pioniers with a walk and two runs scored. The most impact though had Vince Rooi with his grand slam.
Thanks to this win and L&D Amsterdam Pirates’ loss vs Curacao Neptunus, Kinheim is still in the race for the second play off spot.