The Amsterdam Pirates avoided elimination from the Dutch Major League playoffs with a 11-6 win over Kinheim this past Sunday to force a Game 4 this weekend. The winner of the series will meet the Konica Minolta Pioniers in the Holland Series.
Kinheim took the series opener in dramatic fashion last Thursday overcoming a 5-0 deficit with five seventh-inning runs. National team catcher Tjerk Smeets single in the eight brought home Rene Cremer with the winning run.
Amsterdam went up 3-0 in the third when Cuban slugger Fausto Alvarez connected for a three-run blast. Alvarez led the league in home runs this past season with 12.
The Pirates chased Kinheim starter Vaughan Harris in the fifth and increased their lead to 5-0 and appear headed for the upset. But the defending champions responded with six unanswered runs down the wire to win Game 1. Duko Jansen picked up the win while Michiel van Kampen earned a save.
Kinheim won Game 2 with ease behind a superb performance by ace hurler David Bergman who stifled Amsterdam hitters for eight innings to get the win. The 12-game winner escaped an early jam and then tossed a two-hit shutout the next seven innings.
Pirates’ starter Jos de Jong ran into major trouble in the sixth as Kinheim banged five hits – including doubles by Danny Rombley, Dirk van ‘t Klooster, and Jeffrey Verbij – and scored three runs for a 3-0 lead en route to an 8-1 victory.
Kinheim jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in Game 3 with two first-inning runs only to watch Amsterdam responded with a pair of scores in the second to tie the game at 2-2. But Kinheim took advantage of a defensive blunder and put two more runs on the board for a 4-2 lead heading into the third.
Amsterdam first baseman Kenny Berkenbosch led off the fourth with a solo home run to cut Kinheim’s lead to 4-3. The Pirates grabbed the lead for good in the fifth when another national team catcher, Sidney de Jong, ripped a two-run homer to make the score 5-4.
Trailing 6-4 in the sixth Kinheim put together a two-out rally thanks to a double by Cremer and an RBI single by Klooster to get within one run, 6-5. But it would be as close as the regular season leaders would get as the Pioniers added four more runs in the seventh and went on to claim a 11-6 victory.
