Group A: Netherlands – Russia
Russia 000 000 100 1 4 1 Netherlands 020 000 01X 3 7 3
The Netherlands edged out Russia 3-1 in front of an official attendance of 2,950 at ETO Ballpark in Hoofddorp in a Group A matchup at the European Championship on Sunday afternoon. A pair of home runs made the difference, as the Dutch team improved to 3-0, while Russia dropped to 0-3.
A two-run home run by Chadwick Tromp in the second and a solo home run by Curt Smith in eighth helped the Dutch national team to the win. Russia, which couldn’t do anything offensively early on, broke the shutout bid with a RBI single by Maxim Monakhov in the seventh.
Mike Bolsenbroek drew the start for the Netherlands. The right-hander of the Buchbinder Legionaere threw five near-perfect frames to pick up the win. A pair of errors in the fourth led to the only two base runners during his outing. Orlando Yntema replaced him in the sixth and promptly gave up the first Russian hit with a double.
Nikolay Markov allowed six hits, two runs and two walks in seven innings, taking a tough-luck loss. He forced the Dutch hitters into a whopping 18 fly outs.