Everybody in the German Baseball-Bundesliga knows how good Mike Bolsenbroek is. In the Netherlands many baseball fans probably don’t know his name. Until Thursday evening. The right-hander led the Dutch National Team to a 4-0 shutout over Chinese Taipei at the Haarlem Baseball Week. He issued eight hits and one walk in eight scoreless innings. He struck out four, throwing 109 pitches.
With the win the Netherlands secured third place in the standings behind Japan and USA going into the semi-finals on Saturday. Steen van der Meer and Bryan Engelhardt scored the first two runs in the fourth on a groundout by Vince Rooi and a single by Dashenko Ricardo. One inning later Van der Meer and Danny Rombley crossed the plate for two more runs thanks to a single by Rooi. Ko Chien Lin took the loss.
The Haarlemse Honkbalweek continues on Friday with the last first-round matches. In the afternoon Chinese Taipei takes on USA, in the evening Japan faces the Dutch squad. The invitational tournament continues through Sunday.