The Kingdom of the Netherlands needed only five innings to seal the fate of South Africa as they outhit them 17-4 and outscored them 18-2.
In the first inning, South Africa boldly took a 2-0 lead when Philip Escreet tripled to deep center field and thus allowed Luca Wentzel to score and Escreet scored on a wild pitch.
But that was all South Africa was capable of. The team had runners in scoring position three more times but in none of those cases the team could not cash in.
In the next inning, the Dutch turned the game around as the scored three times. Also in the third inning, the Dutch scored thrice and in the fourth inning, they crossed home plate four times.
An absolute monster inning in the fifth, in which the Dutch sent sixteen batters to the batter’s box, ended the game prematurely. Four singles, two doubles, a triple, a home run and a couple of errors allowed the Dutch to score eight times.
Manager Michael Duursma used four pitchers. Starter Arjen Nijkamp lasted two innings in which he gave up two runs on three hits and four walks and struck out three. Dorian Lippens lasted 1.2 innings for the win. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out two as well. Marten Blijleven pitched one perfect inning in which he struck out one. Ingmar Hutzezon pitched 0.1 innings in which he gave up a walk.
Three batters of team Kingdom of the Netherlands shared the honor of being the best hitter. Donovan Antonia, Jesse Velders and Karim Ayubi all went 2 for 3. Velders had the most impact as he drove in four and scored twice.
After today’s easy win, team Kingdom of the Netherlands will face another tough opponent in Australia tomorrow. The Aussies are currently 1 and 1 but as we write, the team is trailing the Dominican Republic 13-4.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 
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