Game for Third Place European Champions Cup:
L&D Amsterdam – Corendon Kinheim 1-3 (10)
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Danny Rombley’s two-run homerun in the top of the tenth helped CORENDON KINHEIM to a 3-1 win over Hoofdklasse rival L&A AMSTERDAM on Sunday morning in Montjuic/Barcelona, Spain. The Dutch champion of 2006 and 2007 secured third place at the European Champions Cup Final Four with the victory. The final between 2008 champion DANESI NETTUNO and FORTITUDO BOLOGNA is scheduled for 6pm CET on Sunday and will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Eurosport2 on Monday from 8.15pm CET to 10pm CET.
The PIRATES had the better start into the matchup between the semi-final losers of Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Wesley Connor reached on a two-out error by second baseman Rene Cremer and came around on singles by Maikel Benner and Sidney de Jong (RBI). But they couldn’t hold to the lead until the end.
KINHEIM led off the eighth with a single by Cremer and a double by Rafael Jozefa to put runners on second and third with no outs. Danny Rombley stepped to the plate and sent a pitch deep into right field for a sac fly to force extra innings.
In the tenth the first batter Kevin Weijgertse reached on an error by shortstop Marvin Bleij and moved to third on a sac bunt and a groundout. Rombley came up and drove the ball over the fence in left field for a two-run homerun and the 3-1 lead for CORENDON. In the bottom of the frame, a one-out single by Pavel van Zaane and a two-out double by Connor put AMSTERDAM batters into scoring position. But Benner grounded out to third to end the game.
Jos de Jong got the start for L&D and allowed four hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings. Rik Geestman blew the slim lead in the eighth, before Kenny Berkenbosch suffered the loss after pitching the last two innings. Patrick Beljaards began for KINHEIM and conceded one unearned run on four hits in five innings of work. After him the relievers Steven van Groningen, Duko Jansen and Onno Bauer held them in the game with no-hit innings. Robin van Eis pitched the last two frames and avoided damage despite giving up four hits to pick up the win.