The Dutch National Team stormed into the World Cup semi-finals with a dramatic 6-3 victory over Taiwan in 11 innings on Friday. The Dutch (6-2) will now face Team USA (7-1) on Saturday for a berth in the championship game.

The Dutch fell behind early when Taiwan used back-to-back doubles by Ying-Chieh Liao and Chih-Sheng Lin to grab a 2-0 lead in the third. And with hard-throwing En-Yu Lin on the hill, who was dominant early fanning six hitters over the first three frames, things looked bleak for the European champions.

Lin baffled the Dutch hitters the first five innings and at one stretch retired 13 straight batters. But the Taiwanese ace pitcher opened the sixth by issuing a free pass to Martijn Meeuwis who later scored on a double by Railey Legito to make the score 2-1.

The score stayed that way until the ninth when Taiwan – just one out away from advancing to a clash against the Americans – saw their World Cup title hopes disappear with one pitch. Dutch first baseman Vince Rooi silenced the more than 9,000 Taiwanese faithful with a game-tying home run to send the game into extra innings.

Amsterdam Pirates standout Sidney de Jong opened the eleventh with his second hit of the game, this time off reliever Po-Hsuan Keng, and the Dutch were back in business. A new pitcher, an error, and a sacrifice bunt later and the tournament hosts were in a box that even Houdini could not escape.

With the bases loaded and just one out, centerfielder Greg Halman ripped a Fu-Te Ni fastball down the leftfield line to bring home a pair of runs for a 4-2 lead. But the Dutch were not finished yet as shortstop Hanley Statia knocked home two more scores with a single and a 6-2 advantage.

Dutch starter Rob Cordemans gave his teammates a chance to rally for the win by chewing up 5.1 innings before skipper Robert Eenhoorn turned to fireballer Loek van Mil to extinguish a Taiwanese threat in the sixth. The young hurler was sharp in 3.2 scoreless frames before giving way to closer Michiel van Kampen who tallied the final six outs for the win.

The Netherlands, who captured fourth place at the 2005 World Cup, will square-off against the pitching-rich American squad on Saturday for a chance to compete for the gold medals.

Tags: World Cup