Mister Baseball

by Pim Van Nes

Five European countries will delegate their selections to a new tournament, initiated and sponsored by Major League Baseball International. All players are students of baseball academies and will participate in a five days competition from Thursday 13 thru Monday 17 March. The Italian federation FIBS will host in Tirrenia. Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) provides facilities in its multi-functional sports park there between the Mediterranean Sea and the airport of Pisa. The Italian academy resides on the premises of the CONI.

Sweden brings a too short team, the members of which will be subdivided among other teams. The tournament counts four teams from Germany, France, Holland and hosting country Italy. Each team will play twice versus every opponent for a total number of 6 games per country. The game schedule creates two extra advantages for the home team, as Italy is the only country never playing two games in a row and also meets each of its three opponents immediately after their first game of the day: vs. Holland after Holland-Germany on Friday, vs. Germany after Germany-France on Saturday and vs. France after Holland-France on Sunday. The opening match on Thursday is Germany-Italy at 10 a.m., the closing game France-Germany on Monday at 2.30 p.m.

The Netherlands mission is headed by Robert EENHOORN and his coaches Brian FARLEY and Ferenc JONGEJAN. They have selected 18 players from the three academies in their country: five from Amsterdam, eight from Rotterdam and five from Eindhoven. Each of the three academies last year organised a one-day tournament for the academy teams: the Diamonds from Amsterdam, the Unicorns from Rotterdam and the Bixies from Eindhoven. From the same category of age they called up a player from Kinheim Haarlem, Tex Town Tigers Enschede, UVV Utrecht and two players from Pioniers Hoofddorp. The 23 players represent 11 pitchers, 2 catchers, 7 infielders and 3 infielders. EENHOORN and his 23 baseball sons will fly directly from Eindhoven to Pisa on Wednesday.

Dutch Roster:
Pitchers (11):
Rick van Dijck (Bixie Baseball)
Oscar Meuris (Amsterdam Diamonds)
Fabian Posse (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Hugo van der Kooij (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Kevin Noordzij (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Sam de Meer (Bixie Baseball)
Lars Molenaar (Bixie Baseball)
Niels Harteveld (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Swen Huijer (Hoofddorp Pioniers)
Robin van Eis (Kinheim)
Scott Ronnenbergh (Amsterdam Diamonds)

Catchers (2):
Koen Nooij (Amsterdam Diamonds)
Ashwin Rokx (Rotterdam Unicorns)

Infielders (6):
Danny Arribas (Bixie Baseball)
Daan Cornelisse (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Max Bijster (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Nick Urbanus (Amsterdam Diamonds)
Norbert Jongerius (EBS UVV)
Kevin Weijgertse (Hoofddorp Pioniers)
Brian Eradus (Tex Town Tigers)

Outfielders (3):
Sven Rommens (Bixie Baseball)
Carlos Tavares Castro (Rotterdam Unicorns)
Jordan Illis (Amsterdam Diamonds)

Tournament schedule :
1 (9 innings) 13/03/2008 10:00 GERMANY - ITALY
2 (9 innings) 13/03/2008 14:30 FRANCE - HOLLAND
3 (7 innings) 14/03/2008 09:30 ITALY - FRANCE
4 (7 innings) 14/03/2008 12:30 HOLLAND - GERMANY
5 (7 innings) 14/03/2008 15:30 HOLLAND - ITALY
6 (9 innings) 15/03/2008 10:00 GERMANY - FRANCE
7 (9 innings) 15/03/2008 14:30 ITALY - GERMANY
8 (7 innings) 16/03/2008 09:30 HOLLAND - FRANCE
9 (7 innings) 16/03/2008 12:30 FRANCE - ITALY
10 (7 innings) 16/03/2008 15:30 GERMANY - HOLLAND
11 (9 innings) 17/03/2008 10:00 ITALY - HOLLAND
12 (9 innings) 17/03/2008 14:30 FRANCE - GERMANY

by Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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