In the second Honkbalweek semifinal, Team USA beat the Netherlands 2-1 and will play Japan in the championship game on Friday.
The Netherlands’ Tom De Blok went five innings with eight strikeouts and no earned runs. He faced American Blake Lobell, who pitched four innings, allowing only one run.
Sem Kuijper’s triple in the bottom of the second inning scored Tyriq Kemp, which was his blemish in the box score for Lobell.
The Netherlands led 1-0 after two, and it would stay that way for a long time. Both teams had scoring opportunities, with the Netherlands leaving two on base at the bottom of the fourth and the United States leaving two at the top of the fifth, but neither could capitalize. Liam Watt came in for Lobell in the fifth, giving the United States five innings of work, allowing no runs.
Lars Huijer came in for De Blok in the sixth, allowing only two hits in his first three innings. However, the United States rallied at the top of the ninth. Blaydon Plain kicked off the inning with a leadoff single off Dutch closer Kevin Kelly.
With one out, Robby Bolin got hit by a pitch. With men on first and second, Miguel Cantu delivered a five-pitch, pinch-hit walk in place of Michael Young. He was pinch run for by Blaise Priester, and the bases were loaded for Cole Bullen. He got a fly ball out to left, and Plain sprinted in to score off the sacrifice fly. The United States had tied it in the top of the ninth, 1-1.
After the Netherlands couldn’t score in the bottom of the ninth, stranding a man on third, the game went to extras. Due to the extra innings rules, Jaydenn Estanista would come in for Kelly and inherit a runner in the second and first innings. Put in a tough situation, Estanista delivered a fielder’s choice and a strikeout to give his team two outs in the top of the tenth.
Jake Munroe worked a walk to load the bases down to his last out. With a chance to take the lead on the line, Blaydon Plain hit a grounder to second base. In what seemed to be a routine out, Dwayne Kemp’s throw went wide right of first baseman Eugene Helder. The United States took the lead in extra innings off of an error by the second baseman in astonishing fashion.
In the bottom of the tenth, the USA brought in Austin Jobe. Juremi Profar took the first out of the inning with a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners over. With runners on second and third, Eugene Helder hit a broken bat grounder right back to Jobe, who checked the runner at third and recorded the second out at first base. The last chance for the Netherlands was Denzel Richardson, who hit a hard grounder to second. However, Adam Singer made the play and got the out at first.
Follow the Honkbalweek Haarlem event here at the World Baseball Network all week and watch along at honkbal.tv.
