Kinheim and Neptunus Win Again

Both Corendon Kinheim and DOOR Neptunus continued their winning ways on the final weekend of the Dutch Major League regular season. Kinheim (32-7) leads by a half-game entering season’s finale.

Kinheim catcher Tjerk SMEETS hit a two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the 10th inning with two outs to defeat Sparta/Feyenoord 3-1 last Sunday. Sparta fell victims to the league leaders 4-2 a day earlier.

Ace reliever Duko JANSEN fanned three and limited Sparta (12-25) to just a single hit in four strong innings to get the win. Denny ROMBLEY, Rene CREMER, and Wonter HEEMSKERK each had three hits for Kinheim while Sparta’s Nick EPPINGA was 4-for-5.

Neptunus (31-7-1) kept pace with Kinheim with two victories over the playoff-bound Konica Minolta Pioniers. On Sunday, Neptunus broke a 2-2 deadlock late in the game to claim a tough 3-2 victory. The Pioniers (21-17) were blanked by Neptunus 7-0 on Saturday..

Martijn NIJHOFF pitched a perfect eighth inning to collect the win while Chris RYAN handled the Pioniers in the ninth to earn the save. Jurrian KORFF and Jeroen SLUIJTER both had two hits for Neptunus and De FLANEGIN was 3-for-5 for the Pioniers.

Both teams stranded 11 runners in a game that featured an unlikely four errors by Neptunus. Diegomar MARKWELL pitched seven solid innings but failed to get a decision and the Pioniers outhit Neptunus 9 to 8.

The Amsterdam Pirates (21-17) bounced back from a 5-2 loss on Saturday to shutout MediaMonks RCH 4-0 this past Sunday. The Pirates will meet Konica Minolta on Tuesday in a crucial matchup to determine the third and fourth playoff seeds.

Jos DE JONG tossed a complete game seven-hit shutout and Fausto ALVAREZ drilled his league-leading 12th homer of the season to pace the Pirates who will make their debut in the playoffs after a 15 year hiatus.

In other action last weekend, Mr. Cocker HCAW (17-21) swept two games from ADO (15-23) to claim sole possession of fifth place. The Bussum-based HCAW blanked ADO 4-0 on Saturday before claiming an easy 12-3 win the following day.

Ralph MILLIARD reached base five times for HCAW and scored three runs while teammate Sebastien OLGERS was 2-for-4 with a pair of triples for HCAW who stranded 12 hitters. Joey EIJPE scattered two runs on four hits in five innings to get the win.