by Pim van Nes
Corendon Kinheim from Haarlem and young spaniels of Mr. Cocker HCAW from Bussum met three times last weekend. Every game was decided in the last two innings: first HCAW scored eight runs trailing 0-3 in the seventh, then Kinheim scored seven runs in the 8th and 9th innings after HCAW had tied the score twice to 5-5 and in the last game Kinheim scored even eleven runs in the 8th and 9th when trailing 4-11 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kinheim beat HCAW twice in games two and three of the weekend series clinching a 2009 playoff position in Hoofdklasse standings for the first time, after being defeated by Amsterdam three times. Kinheim had to struggle to a one run difference victory in its Pim Mulier stadium to reach fourth place behind unbeaten Amsterdam and Neptunus and behind Pioniers. Same clubs also had qualified for last season’s play-off games.
Mr. Cocker’s young spaniels upset the 2007 European Cup winner in last weekend’s game one after seven strong innings by David Bergman, who had struck out 13 HCAW batters. A very young lineup patiently waited for the fatigue of the Kinheim starter. Only two cocker spaniels are over 25: left fielder Siemen Korff (26) and relief pitcher Rutger Zwaal (29). Twenty-four are shortstop Bart Gabriels, midfielder Jason Rees, first base Randy Daal, right fielder Quensley Bazoer and catcher Jurien Overman, twenty-three is third base Laurens Dammers, twenty are starting pitcher Kevin Miner and second base Michael Pluijmers and eighteen is designated hitter Sytse Visbeen. The team is coached by former international players Jurjan Koenen (head), Ronald Jaarsma (assistant) and ex-pro Frans Groot (pitching coach). Australian outfielder Rees was the only foreign player last Thursday and German pitcher Andre Hughes (24) came from Solingen Alligators to play in the close game on Sunday.
After the 8-3 victory for home playing HCAW on Thursday, the two clubs came back to Bussum for game two on Saturday, when HCAW confided the mound to 21 year old pitcher Joey Eijpe, who kept the European Cup final four participant scoreless during the first three innings. Instead of reaching home plate, HCAW spoilt a bases loaded and one out situation in the first. Kinheim reached only second base once in those three innings, but when it managed to load all bases in the fourth, first base man Rafael Jozefa hit a grand slam homerun for the first lead in the game (0-4). In the fifth, however, Kinheim had to score again on an RBI single by Kevin Weijgertse to regain the lead, as HCAW had tied the score in the bottom of the fourth thanks to two RBI each driven in by DH Adrian Anthony (23) and by Bart Gabriels off Kinheim starter Patrick Beljaards. The score was tied again by HCAW in the fifth, when Bazoer waited on third base for the sac fly to midfield by Siemen Korff. The third lead for Kinheim in the eighth (5-7) and insurance runs in the ninth (5-12) built up a gap too wide for HCAW’s cocker spaniels.
On Sunday afternoon in Haarlem, visiting HCAW scored each time in seven innings including every time in the last four innings versus Kinheim, but a total of 14 runs turned out to be in vain, as Kinheim scored seven in the eighth for 11-11 and four runs in the ninth inning for its final 15-14 victory. Also DOOR Neptunus and Konica Minolta Pioniers played two close games: 3-3 after nine innings on Thursday and 6-5 for Neptunus after ten innings in the Saturday home game in Rotterdam. Only in game three the difference amounted to four runs for visiting Neptunus and winning pitcher Kevin Heijstek: 3-7. Happiest 100 percent winners of last weekend were Sparta/Feyenoord with this season’s first victories over MediaMonks RCH: 2-0 with twelve strikeouts in eight innings for starting pitcher Rob Cordemans, 8-1 with five strikeouts for Tim Roodenburg in seven innings and 10-1 with two strikeouts for Gregory Gustina in eight innings. Also L&D Amsterdam won all three games this weekend beating ADO: 13-1, 11-3 and 7-2 continuing its unbeaten streak in Hoofdklasse season.
Next weekend will bring another series of three games in the Netherlands. Two series will cause a difference between clubs now ranking equally: Mr. Cocker HCAW versus Sparta/Feyenoord each with three out of seven so far and ADO will face RCH, each waiting for this season’s first game victory. Two unbeaten clubs will meet strong opponents: Amsterdam versus Pioniers and Neptunus versus Kinheim. All games will be played on Thursday evening and in the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday, except for game one between Neptunus and Kinheim, which will take place in Rotterdam on Friday evening.
Box scores and Stats to all the games available on KNBSB-Stats.nl
{mrb-result:2009-04-23|2009-04-26|NL}
{mrb-standing:netherlands-2009}
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
www.honkbalsite.com
www.sporttribune.nl
www.baseball.it