Dutch Hoofdklasse 2016, Thursday April 14

After a long winter the Dutch baseball season took off today, at least for the highest league, the Dutch Hoofdlasse.
De Glaskoning Twins took on Curacao Neptunus. Notable fact is that Twins was the home team because their ballpark still does not have a proper lighting system. Corendon Kinheim from Haarlem hosted HCAW from Bussum, L&D Amsterdam Pirates hosted Vaessen Pioniers from Hoofddorp and UVV from Utrecht hosted DSS from Haarlem.

De Glaskoning Twins  2   –  4  Curacao Neptunus

De Glaskoning Twins had a flying start against the reigning Dutch champion. In the first inning starting pitcher Diegomar Markwell wasn’t quite sharp, as wasn’t the team, as he gave up two runs. With the bases loaded, Chrisfopher Ge singled to left center field to drive in Bart Hanegraaff and Jeffrey Arends.
It took Neptunus until the top of the third inning to tie the game at two. Back-to-back singles by Shaldimar Daanti and Dwayne Kemp and a fielding error by center fielder Jarreau Martina put runners in scoring position.
A ground out by Benjamin Dille and a sacrifice fly by Raily Legito drove in two runs for the tie.
Even though it was one run, Gianison Boekhoudt’s solo homerun in the fifth gave Neptunus a decisive lead in the fifth inning. In the top of the Dwayne Kemp scored an insurance run for the Rotterdam based team. He singled up the middle, stole second and reached third on a passed ball. He scored on Benjamin Dille’s single to left field.
Twins let Neptunus work for its money and could leave the field with their heads high. In fact they had earned to tie the game at least as the first base umpire made a couple of questionable calls in the favor of Neptunus.
Winning pitcher was Diegomar Markwell. In six innings, he gave up two runs on ten hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Justin Erasmus took the loss after giving up three runs (two earned) in five innings of work he walked and struck out two.
Best hitter for Neptunus was Shaldimar Daantji, who went 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Here are a few impressions of the game:

Corendon Kinheim  6 –   7  HCAW

Both teams kept each other in check until the bottom of the sixth inning. Kinheim starter Tom Stuifbergen lasted 5.1 innings and kept HCAW limited to only three hits and struck out seven. His opponent, Kaj Timmermans did a tad worse as he lasted five full innings and gave up a walk to the lead off hitter of Kinheim in the sixth inning. Then he was pulled in favour of Giovanni Tensen.
Niels van Weert laid down a sac bunt and was retired 3-4 as Jochem Koedijk advanced to second base. After a walk given up to Kevin Moesquit, Jelle Blaauw committed an error on the hit of Dudley Leonora that put runners on first and second. Bryan Engelhardt’s sac fly allowed Koedijk to score the opening run. A single by Wijs Severino drove in Kevin Moesquit for Kinheim’s 2-0 lead. 
The eighth inning turned out to be a disastrous one for Kinheim. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for HCAW, followed by a single by Boyd Tuhumury that drove in Kevin Nieveld. Roelie Henrique drove in the game tying run with a single down the right field line. Gianni Frolijk scored on a 6-5 force out/fielders choice and back-to-back walks by Vince Rooi and Kevin Weijgertse loaded the bases and drove in another run. When Julian Goins singled to right field, he drove in Raoell Kortstam to make it 5-2.
In the ninth HCAW would score two more runs. It appeared that those two were the ones they needed as Kinheim rallied in the bottom of the ninth. Consecutive walks and consecutive doubles drove in Kinheim’s third, fourth and fifth run. But after the sixth run that Jochem Koedijk scored Kinheim’s rally fell short and HCAW walked off the field with a surprising win.
Gijs van Elst earned the win as he pitched 1.2 innings in relief in which he gave up one run on one hit and a walk and struck out two. Reggie Bomberg took the loss after 1.2 innings in which he allowed four runs on five hits.
Best hitter for HCAW was Gianni Frolijk, who entered the game as a pinch hitter and who went 2 for 2.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates  1  –  3   Vaessen Pioniers

Another surprising result came from Amsterdam where Vaessen Pioniers ended at the rigth side of the score. More to follow as the box score of this game is not available yet.

 

UVV  9  –  1   DSS

Not a surprising result in Utrecht. Both teams are expected by many to battle for a spot in the lower part of the standings. UVV from Utrecht clinched a convincing 9-1 win over DSS from Haarlem.

More to follow. The box scores of this game are not available yet either.