2020 Dutch hoofdklasse: Round 7, Day 2

On the second day of the final round of the regular season of the 2020 Dutch hoofdklasse, the following matches were scheduled: Curaçao Neptunus @ Hoofddorp Pioniers, Oosterhout Twins @ HCAW, Quick Amersfoort @ DSS/Kinheim, and L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Silicon Storks.

Curaçao Neptunus 11 – 5 Hoofddorp Pioniers
In the first two innings, Hoofddorp Pioniers could cling on a 2-1 lead but when Neptunus scored four runs in the third, Pioniers’ momentum was gone and Neptunus walked away and never looked back. After Neptunus had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Dwayne Kemp’s double, Pioniers took the lead when it scored twice thanks to double by Victor Draijer and a groundout by Nathan Berkel.
Just like in the third inning, Neptunus let its bats do the talking in the eighth. A bases loaded double down the right-field line by Stijn van der Meer drove in two runs, followed by two more on a single b John Polonius. The final run for Neptunus would come on a sac fly by Dashenko Ricardo.
Kaj Timmermans pitched seven innings for the win. He allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk and fanned four. Scott Prins took the loss. In six innings he allowed six runs on ten hits and three walks and struck out two.
John Polonius was the best hitter for Neptunus as he went 3 for 3 with two doubles, five RBI and three runs scored.

Oosterhout Twins 1 – 4 HCAW
For five innings, nothing much really happened. Both teams had some runners in scoring position but both failed to take advantage. Only in the sixth, Twins opened the score when
Jason Halman doubled to right center-field and scored on Ruendrick Piternella’s single. In the bottom of that inning, Marvin Brown replaced Sora Sakashita, who had pitched a gem and had a pitch count of only 73 and could have pitched at least one inning more. But the move to send Brown to the mound backfired immediately. Despite recording two outs, Brown struggled and gave up three walks and threw a wild pitch. He was tabbed for three runs after he was replaced by Raf Cocu. In the seventh inning, HCAW added one more run to their total to reach the final score.
Dennis Burgersdijk earned the win. In seven innings, he gave up one run on five hits and a walk and struck out six. Marvin Brown took the loss.
Jeandro Tromp was the best hitter for HCAW with two hits out of four at-bats and a run scored.
Earlier today, a make-up game for the rained out game on Thursday night was played and was won by HCAW 8-1.

Quick Amersfoort 14 – 7 DSS/Kinheim
Quick Amersfoort got its revenge for Friday’s loss vs DSS/Kinheim although that ten-run sixth inning may have led to a somewhat flattering score. Beside that sixth inning, Quick scored only four runs and the game may have had a total different outcome if the team would not have had this monster inning. Going into the sixth, the game was tied at three.
Kevin Nieveld, who had pitched the previous two innings and limited Quick to two hits, wasn’t able to record an out and gave up two home runs, a single, a double, and a walk and left the game after he had given up six runs. Moreno Vork, who replaced Nieveld allowed four more runs. In the seventh inning, DSS/Kinheim got somewhat back in the game and scored four runs on a double by Jochem Koedijk and singles by Shaquille Zijlstra and Sem Kuijper.
Jan-Willem Geerts earned the win after 6.1 innings of work in which he gave up six runs on five hits and three walks and struck out one. Kevin Nieveld took the loss.
Bryan Engelhardt was the best hitter, going 2 for 2 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates 24 – 2 Silicon Storks
After two innings, the race was already run as L&D Amsterdam Pirates had taken an 11-1 lead thanks to an eight-run second inning. Throughout the game, Pirates had several big innings so it became clear that Storks was no match today. Eventually, Pirates needed seven innings to end the game.
Jim Ploeger pitched only four innings, so he had a no-decision. Of the three relievers, manager Michael Duursma used, Naut Kragt pitched a perfect seventh inning and earned the win

Nick Winkel was roughed up in two innings and was tabbed with the loss.
Kenny Berkenbosch was on track rather well as he went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, three RBI, and four runs scored so he earned the honor of being the best batter for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.

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