On Saturdays games Sparta/Feyenoord registered an important victory , beating Amsterdam Pirates, 4-2, to take a little bit more distance of last place, while Corendon Kinheim won big vs. Konica Minolta Pioniers, 14-4.
In the evening, DOOR Neptunus and Instant Holland Almere '90 won their games.
On Sunday Instant Holland Almere '90 and Amsterdam Pirates moved up a spot by winning, while league-leaders DOOR Neptunus and Corendon Kinheim added another victory.
Saturday's games
At Amsterdam, Sparta/Feyenoord defeated Amsterdam Pirates 4-2 to give newcomer Eddie Oropesa a victory in his Dutch big league-debut. The Cuban/American lefthander arrived last Wednesday and brings four years of American Major League-experience with him to Rotterdam. Despite that, Oropesa trailed 2-1 after three innings. In the fourth, Sparta/Feyenoord came alongside when Sil Wagenaar homered, then took a 3-2 lead when his brother Sape Wagenaar also homered in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Sparta/Feyenoord added an insurance run to make it 4-2.
At Haarlem, Corendon Kinheim got 15 basehits to defeat Konica Minolta Pioniers, 14-4 in 6 1/2 inning. Trailing 1-0, Kinheim scored twice in the first inning when Pionier-starter Ramon Romeijn walked four batters, threw a wild pitch and two errors were made. Kinheim then added nine more runs in the next three innings to increase the lead to 11-1. In the fifth inning, Jourick Blanco led off for Pioniers with a homerun, then the team scored two more runs, but Kinheim answered with a 3-run homerun by Vince Rooi in the sixth at bat to make it a 10-run difference game.
At Rotterdam, DOOR Neptunus defeated Mr. Cocker HCAW, 7-1. Because they won in the afternoon, Kinheim shared first place with Neptunus, but that lasted only five hours and 18 minutes, as Neptunus become the only leader again after winning its game. Neptunus broke an 1-1 tie in the second inning when it scored six runs. This rally started with a lead-off homerun by Jeffrey Arends. Neptunus scored all runs off starter Mark Kolner, then produced only three hits and no runs in the next six innings. Winning pitcher Leon Boyd raised his record to 5-0. He allowed only one hit in his first six innings, before giving up two in the seventh which led to HCAW's lone run.
At Almere, Instant Holland Almere '90 won 4-1 vs. MediaMonks RCH to move into fifth place. RCH took a 1-0 lead on a 2-out error in the first, but Almere came alongside in the next at bat. Derrick Francisca then batted in three more runs with a grounder and a 2-run single in the third and seventh inning respectively to make it 4-1.
Sunday's games
At Heemstede, Instant Holland Almere '90 won 6-2 vs. MediaMonks RCH, which played its second game under new Head Coach Marlon Fluonia. Almere scored four runs off Canadian-born starter Marek Deska, who made his first start for RCH and made his debut in the Dutch league, becoming the first player in history to play in the highest Dutch league with a Polish passport. Bryan Engelhardt homered for Almere in the eighth inning. With the win, Almere passed HCAW and moved into fourth place.
At Rotterdam, Amsterdam Pirates defeated Sparta/Feyenoord 10-1 in a game which interrupted twice. In the bottom of the fifth, Sparta/Feyenoord-rightfielder Shurendell Borgschot was hit by a pitch, then was caught stealing to end the inning. But while running back to the dug-out, he collapsed at first base. A 17-minute interruption followed to check on Borgschot, who managed to sit up again after a while. As no ambulance was coming to the field, he was brought to the hospital for a check-up by car. In the hospital, it was diagnosed that Borgschot suffered a broken collarbone, but it remains unclear whether he sustained it by the hit by pitch or the sliding during the caught stealing. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the game was delayed by 50 minutes because of rain. When the game resumed, Pirates added five more runs. With the win, Pirates left last place for the first time after 14 games.
At Hoofddorp, Corendon Kinheim won 12-5 vs. Konica Minolta Pioniers. Kinheim scored four runs in the first inning, as Pionier-starter Daan de Jong walked four batters and gave up three hits. Pioniers came back to 4-2, but then Kinheim added more runs. Jeffrey Verbij homered for Kinheim in the fifth inning, while Roel Koolen went 4-for-6 and only missed the homerun to go for-the-cycle.
At Bussum, DOOR Neptunus shutout Mr. Cocker HCAW, 12-0. Neptunus scored three runs in the first at bat, as HCAW-starter Sten van den Bedem also walked four batters and gave up three hits. In the second inning, Evert-Jan 't Hoen and Lennart Koster hit back-to-back homeruns. Benjamin Dille and Jeffrey Arends each had four hits, while Lennart Koster scored four runs.
