2021 Dutch hoofdklasse: Round 5, Day 2

On the second day of round five, a day with great baseball weather, the following games were scheduled:
Curaçao Neptunus @ Hoofddorp Pioniers, DSS/Kinheim @ L&D Amsterdam Pirates, HCAW @ Silicon Storks, and Oosterhout Twins @ Quick Amersfoort.

Curaçao Neptunus  8  –  1  Hoofddorp Pioniers
For six innings, Hoofddorp Pioniers managed to keep pace with Curaçao Neptunus but in the seventh inning, the pitching collapsed and Neptunus walked away.  After Neptunus scored a run in the first and the fourth, Pioniers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when Denzel Brooks scored on an error by Neptunus’ first baseman. 
After Ryan Huntington, who kept Neptunus in check rather well in the first six frames, allowed two singles in the seventh, he was replaced by Angelo Wicklert, who couldn’t stop the Neptunus offense either, as he allowed Neptunus to score twice. In the eighth, Neptunus added four more runs to reach the final score. 
Orlando Yntema earned the win. In 5.2 innings, he allowed the sole run that Pioniers scored. He gave up five hits and two walks and struck out seven. Ryan Huntington took the loss and was tabbed for four runs. 
Average-wise, Greg Muller was the best hitter for Neptunus as he went 1 for 1. 

DSS/Kinheim  1. –  10  L&D Amsterdam Pirates
An easy victory for L&D Amsterdam Pirates. By the time, DSS/Kinheim got on the board, in the top of the third inning, Pirates already had a 5-0 lead. Eventually it would score five more runs, two in the fifth, one in the sixth, and two in the seventh. 
The DSS/Kinheim offense was kept in check by the pitching staff of Pirates. Juan-Carlos Sulbaran, who earned the win, gave up the sole unearned run of DSS/Kinheim on five hits and two walks, as he struck out seven. Kevin Geestman and Robyn Clara both pitched two shutout innings. 
Rick Rizvic took the loss after 4.1 innings in which he allowed seven runs (four earned) on four hits and four walks.
The best hitter for L&D Amsterdam Pirates was Emilson Haswell, who went 2 for 1 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. 

HCAW  10  –  7  Silicon Storks
Four insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning, saved the game for HCAW. Lars Huijer had a rough start as he allowed Storks to score four runs in the first inning.  He recovered in the second inning and pitched a solid game in the remainder of his outing.  For three innings, Storks could dream of a pulling a stunt but in the top of the fourth, HCAW scored thrice to take a 5-4 lead and never looked back. Trailing 10-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Storks rallied for two more runs but could not get any closer. 
Jasper Elfrink earned the win as he allowed two runs in three innings of relief. He walked one and struck out five. Geydrion Basilia took the loss as he allowed two runs (one earned) on three walks and struck out one. 
Jeandro Tromp was the best hitter for HCAW as he went 3 for 5 with three RBI and a run scored.  

Oosterhout Twins  7  –  6  Quick Amersfoort 
Oosterhout Twins got away with a scare today. The team underperformed for a big part of the game. In the first five innings, the pitching didn’t come through and at bat the lineup could not get a grip on Maverich Lourens’ pitches. On the positive side, the team showed the flexibility to get back into the game. After Twins had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Quick Amersfoort bounced back in the third to take a 3-1 lead. But in the fifth, Twins tied the game at three, to hand the lead to Quick again in the bottom of the very same inning. When Quick scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, the situation looked rather bleak for Twins, but from the moment Jeffrey Levenstone took the mound for Twins, Quick did not score a run anymore. In the seventh and the eighth, Jakob Syrén struggled and didn’t get the necessary defensive support from his teammates. This allowed Twins to tie the game at six. With a little luck, Twins could take control of the game when Luuk Bun, who replaced Shurman Marlin at second base as pinch runner, could advance to third and score the winning run on two wild pitches.
Raf Cocu, who pitched 0.2 perfect innings, earned the win. Jasper Popken, who gave up the winning run to Twins, took the loss. 
Tyson Quolas was the best hitter for Twins, as he went 4 for 4 with two runs scored. 

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