The Curaçao Neptunus are the 2024 Holland Series champions as they defeated HCAW Bussum 5-1 in game four of the Holland Series to sweep the series. This is the twentieth Honkbal Hoofdklasse title for the Neptunus, their first since 2018. Starting pitcher Tom de Blok led the way in the closeout game with a one hit, complete game shutout to secure his squad the league title.
This year’s Holland Series was a routine appearance for the Neptunus, as they have appeared in 23 of the 29 series. This championship continues to cement them as the winningest club in Dutch history. This year was a rare non appearance for the Amsterdam Pirates, as they were upset by HCAW in the league semi-finals. The Neptunus and Pirates are the two premier teams in Netherlands baseball and routinely make it to the Holland Series.
This year’s matchup was between the number one overall team in the Neptunus, who went 22-2 during the regular season, and the three seed Honkbalclub Allen Weerbaar, commonly known as HCAW Bussum. The Neptunus got out to a 3-0 series lead, with the first two games being very close contests. In game three however, the Neptunus shellshocked HCAW 16-6 and carried that momentum into today.
In the clinching game four on Oct. 12, neither team was able to score in the first four innings. Arthur Bonevacia broke the stalemate with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning to give the Neptunus a 1-0 lead, but that was short lived as a Julian Goins single brought in Victor Draijer to tie the game at one run a piece.
The Neptunus were not pleased with that, and from there the floodgates started to open. They garnered a run in the top of the fifth via an RBI single from Stijn Van der Meer. De Blok continued to shove and give his team life going into the late stages of the game. The Neptunus added insurance runs off of the HCAW bullpen with one run scoring in the eighth and two in the ninth courtesy of a Dwayne Kemp RBI single in the eight and a two run Van der Meer single in the ninth to push the score to 5-1 in favor of the Neptunus. Tom De Blok finished out the game with a one, two, three inning in the ninth to lift his squad to the title. De Blok finished with a complete game shutout and six strikeouts on the day.
De Blok was one of the players on the Netherlands national team that placed third at Haarlem Honkbalweek earlier this year. He went 1-0 over eleven innings in two appearances and did not allow a single run. He previously pitched in the minor leagues for the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers, but never made an MLB appearance.
The twentieth Holland Series title for the Neptunus wraps up the 2024 Honkbal Hoofdklasse season with this year’s Holland Series culminating in four games.
——-
Dwayne Kemp (Netherlands) during the Baseball match Baseball European Championship 2021 – Quarter finals – Netherlands vs Great Britain on September 16, 2021 at the Stadio Comunale in Turin, Italy (Photo by Claudio Benedetto/LiveMedia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
