Unipol Bologna 001 000 002 3 7 1 Curacao Neptunus 200 500 00X 7 10 0
The 2015 European Champions Cup winner is Curacao Neptunus Rotterdam. The reigning Dutch Hoofdklasse champion defeated Unipol Bologna 7-3 in the decisive third match of the final series on Sunday afternoon. They are succeeding T&A San Marino, which won last year.
An official attendance of 1,000 saw the game at Family Stadium in the Dutch port city. Bologna had prevailed 5-3 in game one on Thursday, while Curacao Neptunus tied the series with a 3-2 win on Saturday.
The rubber match of the best-of-three series didn’t feature the same drama of the first two games. Curacao Neptunus took a quick 2-0 lead in the first, as finals MVP Stijn van der Meer singled in two runs.
After Bologna got on the board with a RBI fielder’s choice by Claudio Liverziani in the third, Rotterdam scored five runs in the fourth to extend their advantage to 7-1. Dwayne Kemp and Raily Legito highlighted the rally with big two-run hits.
Fortitudo tried to come back in the ninth. However the deficit was too big to overcome. Cesar Suarez and Alessandro Vaglio scored, but with Francesco Fuzzi at third, Marco Sabbatani and Alessandro Grimaudo struck out and grounded out to end the game.
Kenny van den Branden conceded four hits, a run and a walk in six innings for the win. The Belgian national teamer struck out six. Kevin Kelly and Berry van Driel closed it out. Riccardo De Santis took the loss, surrendering six hits, six runs and two walks in 3 2/3 frames.