2020 Dutch hoofdklasse: Top 4, Round 1, Day 1

On the first day of the playoffs in the 2020 Dutch hoofdklasse, the following games were scheduled: L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Curaçao Neptunus and HCAW @ Hoofddorp Pioniers.

L&D Amsterdam 4 – 7 Curaçao Neptunus
Despite a promising start in which the team took a 4-0 lead in the second inning, L&D Amsterdam lost tonight vs Curaçao Neptunus. In the bottom of the second inning, Neptunus got within one run of Pirates but after that Rob Cordemans kept team in check for the next three innings. After Cordemans was replaced in the bottom of the sixth, the relief pitching did not pan out today. The pitcher with MLB experience, Shairon Martis wasn’t able to keep the lineup of Neptunus in check. Martis gave up three unearned runs to give Neptunus the 6-4 lead. After 1.1 inning, Martis was replaced by Mike Groen, who kept Neptunus from scoring despite loading the bases. In the bottom of the eighth, Tom de Blok took the mound and he could not stop the offense either as he struggled with his control. Two wild pitches, two walks (one intentional) and a single led to one more run for Neptunus in the eighth.
Diegomar Markwell, who gave up the four runs to Pirates in the second inning, limited them to four hits in total. After he was replaced by Aaron de Groot, the Amsterdam based team didn’t get a hit in the remainder of the game. De Groot pitched 2.1 innings in which he allowed two walks and struck out four for the win. Kevin Kelly pitched as many innings for the save. Shairon Martis took the loss.
Stijn van der Meer was the best hitter for Curaçao Neptunus, going 3 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored.

HCAW 3 – 1 Hoofddorp Pioniers
In today’s game, the venom wasn’t in the tail. On the contrary. All runs were scored in the first three innings. After the third, the game slowly bled to death. Sure, there were some nice hits and a nice double play but in general nothing much happened in the final six innings.
Hoofddorp Pioniers took the lead in a spectacular way when Mark Smit stole home plate. It took HCAW one inning to recover as it scored thrice in the third inning on a single by Bob van der Meer, and two throwing errors.
Luuk ter Beek had a solid outing for HCAW, pitching 6.1 innings in which he allowed one run on four hits and two walks and struck out five. Scott Prins took the loss in his last game of the season. He pitched 8.1 innings and gave up three runs (one earned) on nine hits, walked four and struck out four.
Jeandro Tromp was the best hitter for HCAW, going 3 for 4.