USA – Chinese Taipei 4-0
The Haarlem Baseball Week continued on Monday with two games. In the afternoon matinee Team USA shut out Chinese Taipei 4-0. Kyle Funkhouser, Andrew Moore and AJ Minter combined for a six-hitter. Center fielder Nick Banks drove in two and got honored as MVP of the match. Kao Chen Chu took the loss, issuing four hits, three runs and three walks in 3 1/3 innings.
Stenar van Groningen Schinkel made his HHW debut as plate umpire at age of 24. He is the son of technical commissioner Fred van Groningen. Stenar is working games in the Dutch Hoofdklasse since 2010 and behind the plate since 2011. Internationally he already has been umpiring at the European Cup Qualifier in Antwerp in 2013 and the European Cup Playoff in Rouen in the same year. He has been nominated to work in the European Championship in September.
Netherlands – Japan 1-3
In the evening Japan improved to 3-0 in the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Netherlands. A selection of the best college players from Japan between ages 19 and 22 allowed their first run against them in the ninth inning after a stretch of 26 scoreless innings.
Japan had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth on a RBI double by Yoshida. They added two runs in the ninth on a solo shot by Seigo Yada and a RBI single by Chiba to make it 3-0. Vince Rooi then plated Steen van der Meer with a double in the bottom half of the frame, ending the shutout bid. However Bas de Jong got thrown out at the plate during the same play. A strikeout and a groundout concluded the contest.
Seigi Tanaka struck out 10 batters in eight scoreless innings for the win, earning MVP of the match honors. David Bergman matched him for most of the time, but still ended up with the loss, surrendering four hits, a run and two walks in eight frames.
The game was played in a permanent fog of smoke caused by an old elementary school, which caught fire late Monday afternoon. The school was founded in 1632 in neighboring village Bloemendaal, which is located at the other side of the railroad behind Pim Mulier stadium. Maintenance work is being carried out in the school, but it is not known if the fire was caused by the workers. School staff and pupils and workers had already left the compound, when neighbors discovered the fire and alarmed police and the fire department.