NETHERLANDS – Corendon Kinheim overcame an 11-4 deficit with a seven-run eighth, and then plated four more runs in the ninth to steal a 15-14 win over Mr. Cocker HCAW Sunday at Haarlem.

HCAW headed into the bottom of the eighth with a seemingly comfortable seven-run lead before Kinheim came charging back to knot the score at 11-11. Reliever Forstin Coenraad surrendered a leadoff double to René Cremer before walking Remco Draijer.  Both scored on Josh Renick’s two-run double to send Coenraad to a quick shower.

New pitcher Rutger Zwaal took the hill and faced five batters before getting yanked without recording a single out. Zwaal allowed back-to-back-to-back singles to Dirk van ‘t Klooster, Tjerk Smeets and Bryan Engelhardt. Then the reliever hit Jeffrey Verbij with a pitch to load the bases and make the score 11-8. An error by shortstop Bart Gabriëls on a grounder by Rafaël Jozefa inched Kinheim closer and ended Zwaal’s brief stint on the mound.

Kevin Roovers took the ball and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Kevin Weijgertse to make it a one-run game, 11-10. Roovers struck out René Cremer but Remco Draijer delivered a clutch RBI single to pull Kinheim even.

HCAW recovered from improbable comeback and grabbed the lead again with three runs in the top of the ninth. However, the home team was not yet finished.

Dirk van ‘t Klooster greeted HCAW reliever Joep de Wit with a leadoff single to start the fateful frame. However, de Wit retired the next two batters before pinch-hitter Jason Halman singled to keep the rally alive. The HCAW brass sent Joey Eijpe to the mound but he promptly walked Jozefa to load the bases. Weijgertse followed with an infield hit, and a throwing error on the same play made the score 14-12. The next batter, René Cremer, finished off the second rally with a two-run single to end the game.

L&D AMSTERDAM CONTINUES WINNING WAYS
Zaïr Koeiman had three hits to raise his league-best batting average to .567 and the L&D Amsterdam Pirates stayed perfect in the Dutch League with a 7-2 victory against ADO Sunday at The Hague.

Amsterdam struck first when Koeiman drove in Vince Rooi with a run-scoring hit in the second. Rooi, who doubled with one out in the fourth, crossed the plate again on Björn Henrichs two-out single to pad the lead. The Pirates went on top 3-0 in the sixth when Bas de Jong scored on Koeiman’s third hit of the ballgame.

ADO broke the shutout in the bottom of the inning on a one-out triple by Shurty Tremus, and an RBI double by Aeden McQueary-Ennis.

Amsterdam added two more runs in the seventh and coasted to their eighth consecutive win.

NEPTUNUS SUBDUES KONICA MINOLTA
DOOR Neptunus finished off a tough series against the Konica Minolta Pioniers with a 7-3 road win at Hoofddorp. With the win, the Rotterdam club improved to 6-0-1 to remain unbeaten.

The visitors tallied three runs in the second to grab an early lead of Konica Minolta starter Daan de Jong. Catcher Martijn Meeuwis single to start the inning, and Jeffrey Arends drew a walk before Matt McGraw plated the fist run of the game with an RBI single. Jeroen Sluijter capped the rally with a run-scoring hit.

The Pioniers got on the board in the second when Mark Duursma, who reached on a base hit, scored on a groundout. The Hoofddorp club loaded the bases the next inning but failed to come up with a clutch hit.

Neptunus chased de Jong with two more runs in the fourth to build a 5-1 advantage, and Neptunus added a pair of runs in the fifth en route to their second win of the three-game set.

SPARTA/FEYENOORD POUNDS MEDIAMONKS RCH
All nine starters had at least one hit and Sparta/Feyenoord moved into a tie for fifth-place with a 10-1 victory over winless MediaMonks RCH Sunday at Rotteram.

The home team went ahead 2-0 in the opening frame but RCH cut the lead in half on Reggie Valpoort’s run-scoring triple an inning later. However, Sparta/Feyenoord tacked on another score in the bottom of the same inning, and stretched the lead to 5-1 in the fourth before putting the game out of reach with a five-run seventh highlighted by Rodney Michel’s RBI triple.

Photo courtesy of Henk Seppen/L&D Amsterdam Pirates

Tags: Netherlands