Friday, July 23
Dutch open European Championships with victory
BOLOGNA (Italy) - The Dutch national baseball team started the 26th European Championships by beating Germany 8-1 in Bologna. The game between the Dutch and Germans was the first between them since July 15, 1975. The Dutch opened the score in the third, when Robert Eenhoorn hit an RBI-single, scoring Jeffrey Cranston from second base. Rikkert Faneyte followed with a single, then later scored on a wild pitch. Eenhoorn scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Raymond Hofer. Active pro Evert-Jan 't Hoen, who returned in the national team for the first time since 1996, tripled and scored in the sixth. Starting pitcher Patrick de Lange went four innings, striking out seven and allowing only two hits. Germany scored its only run in the seventh inning when Marc Marsch hit an RBI-double.

Germany - The Netherlands 1-8				R	H	E
The Netherlands	003	011	210	8	8	1
Germany	000	000	100	1	6	5
pitchers The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Patrick de Lange	4	7	2	2	-	-
Patrick Beljaards, W (1-0)	4	9	1	4	1	1
Michiel van Kampen	1	3	-	-	-	-
pitchers Germany	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Stefan Fechtig, L	2.2	1	4	2	3	1
Kai McKinstry	3.1	3	1	4	2	2
Andreas Becker	2	1	3	1	3	1
Lutz Denckert	1	-	-	1	-	-

other scores of Day 1:
Group 1: France vs. Croatia, 1-0; Russia vs. Sweden, 6-2; Great Britain vs. Italy, 0-13.
Group 2: Czech Republic vs. Slovenia, 18-10; Belgium vs. Spain 0-10.

Saturday, July 24
Dutch blanks Czech
PARMA (Italy) - The Dutch national team also won its second game of the European Championships as is won 9-0 against Czech Republic. The Dutch scored all their runs in the first five innings, with six of them being scored in the first three innings. Consecutive hits by Johnny Balentina, Robert Eenhoorn and Rikkert Faneyte (2-run double) led to a 3-run first. In the third the Dutch added three more. An inning later, Mike Crouwel hit a homerun, which hit the scoreboard in left-centerfield, to make it 7-0. Orlando Stewart struckout seven and allowed four hits in his five innings of work. In the remaining four innings the Czech managed to get only one additional hit.

The Netherlands - Czech Republic 9-0				R	H	E
Czech Republic	000	000	000	0	5	0
The Netherlands	303	120	00x	9	12	0
pitchers Czech Republic	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Orlando Stewart, W (1-0)	5	7	1	4	-	-
Jurriaan Lobbezoo	3	4	1	1	-	-
René Rijst	1	1	-	-	-	-
pitcher Czech Republic	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Martin Duda, L	3.1	3	5	7	7	7
Lubomír Janda	4.2	-	1	5	2	2
Homerun: The Netherlands: Mike Crouwel (1).

other scores of Day 2:
Group 1: Russia vs. France, 0-4; Great Britain vs. Croatia, 10-0; Italy vs. Sweden, 10-3.
Group 2: Slovenia vs. Belgium, 3-4; Spain vs. Germany, 3-1.

Sunday, July 25
Dutch win 450th international game
BOLOGNA (Italy) - Almost 65 years after their first encounter and now 59 games later, the Dutch and Belgian national teams faced each other again, marking the 450th international game of the Dutch in history. On August 26, 1934, the Dutch played their ever international game, defeating Belgium 21-12. This time, The Netherlands won 9-1 against Belgium, which is guided by Dutch coach Fred van Gulik. Before the game it was expected that the Dutch were much too strong, but after the topof the sixth, they were leading only 2-0. Then, in the bottom half of the sixth, the Dutch decided the game, scoring five runs. Dutch pitcher Erwin Maes started losing control, walking three, and his successor Tom Lorrenton added two walks. Dutch starter Rob Cordemans gave up only one hit in six innings. Richard Orman gave up the lone Belgian run in the seventh.

The Netherlans - Belgium 9-1				R	H	E
Belgium	000	000	100	1	2	1
The Netherlands	200	005	11x	9	7	1
pitchers Belgium	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Andre De Wit, L	3	-	2	2	2	2
Erwin Maes	2 (*)	3	6	1	4	4
Tom Lorrenton	1	-	2	1	2	2
Johnny Peerens	1.2	2	-	3	1	1
(*)-Maes pitched to five batters in the sixth inning
pitchers The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Rob Cordemans, W (1-0)	6	6	-	1	-	-
Richard Orman, SV (1)	3	5	-	1	1	-

other scores of Day 3:
Group 1: Great Britain vs. Russia, 5-11; France vs. Sweden, 7-0; Croatia vs. Italy, 1-22.
Group 2: Spain vs. Slovenia, 8-0; Czech Republic vs. Germany, 2-1.

Monday, July 26
Dutch clinch play-off spot
PARMA (Italy) - The Dutch national team qualified for the play-offs of the European Championships as they beat Spain 8-1. The Dutch had ten hits, including a towering homerun by Evert-Jan 't Hoen in the seventh. 't Hoen, Johnny Balentina and Elston Hansen all had two hits. The Dutch started off the scoring in the second when 't Hoen scored on two consecutive passed balls. Spain only scored a run in the third as Miguel Erroz reached home plate on a grounder by Antonio Salazar.

The Netherlands - Spain 8-1				R	H	E
Spain	001	000	000	1	10	0
The Netherlands	012	112	10x	8	10	3
pitchers Spain	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Ken Brauckmiller	3	2	-	4	1	1
Eelco Jansen, W (1-0)	4	5	1	3	-	-
Michiel van Kampen	1	2	-	2	-	-
René Rijst	1	1	-	1	-	-
pitchers Spain	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Eduy Mosqueda, L	4.1	1	5	6	5	4
Ekaitz Ezpeleta	3.2	-	1	4	3	3
Homeruns: The Netherlands: Evert-Jan 't Hoen (1).

other scores of Day 4:
Group 1: Russia vs. Croatia, 2-4; Sweden vs. Great Britain, 3-2; Italy vs. France, 5-0.
Group 2: Germany vs. Slovenia, 14-4; Czech Republic vs. Belgium, 11-1.

Tuesday, July 27
Dutch remain unbeaten in preliminaries
BOLOGNA (Italy) - The Dutch national tam remained unbeaten in the preliminary round, defeating Slovenia 15-2. Dutch manager Jan Dick Leurs gave some of his regulars off, but some of them entered the game in the seventh. The Dutch then scored eleven of its fifteen runs in the last three innings. Eddie Dix went 4-for-6, including a triple, and scored two runs. He also had four RBI's. Elston Hansen connected for three hits, including a two-run double. The Dutch had sixteen hits off of four different pitchers.

Slovenia - The Netherlands 2-15				R	H	E
The Netherlands	020	200	434	15	16	1
Slovenia	000	002	000	2	4	6
pitchers The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Derrick Isenia, W (1-0)	7	9	1	4	2	-
Jurriaan Lobbezoo	2	4	-	-	-	-
pitchers Slovenia	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Tine Zaletel, L	6.2	1	4	10	8	6
Domen Rotap	0.2	1	2	2	3	1
Jaka Bradac	0.2 (*)	-	1	4	4	4
Uros Djinovski	1	-	1	-	-	-
(*)-Bradac pitched to five batters in the ninth inning

other scores of Day 5:
Group 1: Croatia vs. Sweden, 0-1; France vs. Great Britain, 9-8; Italy vs. Russia, 8-5.
Final Standings: 1. Italy, 2. France, 3. Russia, 4. Sweden, 5. Great Britain, 6. Croatia.
Group 2: Belgium vs. Germany, 5-2; Spain vs. Czech Republic, 4-7.
Final Standings: 1. The Netherlands, 2. Czech Republic, 3. Spain, 4. Belgium, 5. Germany, 6. Slovenia.

Thursday, July 29

Dutch beat Sweden to reach semi-final
BOLOGNA (Italy) - In the first game of the play-offs, the Dutch national team defeated Sweden, therefore qualifying not only for the semi-final of the European Championships, but also clinching a spot of the 2001 World Championships. The four best teams of the European Championships qualify for that event, for which a location will be decided upon during the IBA Congress in Sydney, Australia, in November of this year. The Dutch had a four-run second inning as Evert-Jan 't Hoen had a lead-off infieldhit, then Ken Brauckmiller and Raymond Hofer walked. 't Hoen and Brauckmiller scored on Johnny Balentina's two-run single. Hofer and Balentina then scored on a hit, and additional error, by Robert Eenhoorn. As the score was only 6-0, the Dutch never got into problems. Starting pitcher Patrick de Lange pitched six-plus strong innings, striking out twelve.
Besides The Netherlands, Italy, Russia and France also qualified for the next World Championships.

The Netherlands - Sweden 6-0 (quarter final)				R	H	E
Sweden	000	000	000	0	6	2
The Netherlands	040	000	02x	6	5	0
pitchers Sweden	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Petter Vesterlund, L	7.1	4	7	5	6	5
Kerry Fitzgerald	0.2	-	-	-	-	-
pitchers The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Patrick de Lange, W (1-0)	6.1	12	1	6	-	-
Patrick Beljaards	0.2	-	-	-	-	-
Jurriaan Lobbezoo	2	3	-	-	-	-

other scores of Day 6:
9th thru 12th place: Germany vs. Croatia, 8-3; Great Britain vs. Slovenia, 6-4.
quarter finals: Czech Republic vs. Russia, 3-5; France vs. Spain, 4-1; Italy vs. Belgium, 17-1.

Friday, July 30
DUTCH GO TO SYDNEY!
BOLOGNA - (Italy) The Netherlands qualified for the Sydney Olympics by defeating Russia 7-0 in de semi-final of the European Championships. In Parma, Italy also qualified, as it won 10-0 against France.
Rob Cordemans pitched a one-hitter in the Olympic clincher and took a perfect game into the sixth inning. In the sixth he gave up a lead-off walk to Dmitri Likhin. In the seventh Valeri Platonov broke the no-hitter with a two-out single up the middle, out of reach of centerfielder Rikkert Faneyte. Only one Russian hitter managed to reach second base. That happened in the ninth, when Dmitri Goloubev was sacrificed to second by Gherman Paniouchov.
The Dutch faced Vladimir Petrov, who proved to be a tough pitcher, striking out four and allowing only four hits in six innings. In the seventh, Petrov finally had to give in, giving up five hits and four runs. The game was scoreless for three innings, but Rikkert Faneyte scored the first run in the fourth, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Evert-Jan 't Hoen. In the fifth Faneyte singled in Raymond Hofer for 2-0 lead, then Elston Hansen made it 3-0 in the sixth, scoring on a dropped fly ball, before the Dutch had a decisive four-run seventh.
Croatia and Slovenia demoted to the B-pool as they finished in eleventh and twelfth place after completion of their competition with Germany and Great Britain.

The Netherlands - Russia 7-0 (semi final)				R	H	E
Russia	000	000	000	0	1	3
The Netherlands	000	111	40x	7	9	0
pitchers Russia	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Vladimir Petrov, L	6.2	5	3	9	7	1
Vladimir Mouratov	1.1	2	3	-	-	-
pitcher The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Rob Cordemans, W (2-0)	9	7	2	1	-	-

other scores of Day 7:
9th thru 12th place: Germany vs. Great Britain, 2-4; Slovenia vs. Croatia, 6-7.
Final Standings 9th thru 12th place: 9. Great Britain, 10. Germany, 11. Croatia, 12. Slovenia.
losers semi-finals: Czech Republic vs. Spain, 2-12; Belgium vs. Sweden, 2-3.
winners semi-final: Italy vs. France, 10-0

Saturday, July 31
DUTCH DEFEAT ITALY AND ARE EUROPEAN CHAMPION!
BOLOGNA (Italy) - The Netherlands defeated Italy 3-0 to become European Champion for the first time since 1995 and the sixteenth time in history. It was the first time in 28 years that the Dutch captured the title in Italy. Since 1971, Italy was victorious in their own country in 1979, 1983 and 1991. The 3-0 was only the sixth shutout victory of the Dutch against Italy since the teams first met in 1956.
The Dutch played a strong defensive game. Pitcher Orlando Stewart, who had a superb outing, allowed only three hits and a total of four baserunners, three of which came in the fourth innings. In seven innings he faced only the minimum three hitters. ,,He did a great job'', manager Jan Dick Leurs reacted afterwards. ,,This is one of my career highlights'', said Stewart. The Dutch played agressively and took the lead in the second inning, when Evert-Jan 't Hoen scored on a single by Percy Isenia and had a hard collision with Italian catcher Manuel Gasparri. In the third Rikkert Faneyte hit an RBI double, scoring Johnny Balentina from second base. Faneyte himself went to third on a Mike Crouwel hit, then scord on a sac fly by Elston Hansen. Italy got its only runscoring opportunity in the fourth when former pro Claudio Liverziani singled and was followed by a double by Alberto D'Auria. Stewart then intentionally walked powerhitter Danny Newman to load the bases and got active pro Andrea Castri (New York Yankees-minors) to hit into a double play with a comebacker to the pitcher.

The Netherlands - Italy 3-0 (final)				R	H	E
Italy	000	000	000	0	3	2
The Netherlands	012	000	00x	3	6	0
pitchers Italy	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Massimiliano Masin, L	2.1	2	3	3	3	3
Diego Ricci	4.2	3	1	2	-	-
Paul Romanoli	1	2	-	1	-	-
pitcher The Netherlands	inn.	SO	BB	H	R	ER
Orlando Stewart, W (2-0)	9	6	1	3	-	-

other scores of Day 8:
7th/8th place: Sweden vs. Czech Republic, 6-5
5th/6th place: Spain vs. Belgium, 12-0
3rd/5th place: Russia vs. France, 3-8

Final Standings:
1. The Netherlands, 2. Italy, 3. France, 4. Russia, 5. Spain, 6. Belgium, 7. Sweden, 8. Czech Rpublic, 9. Great Britain, 10. Germany, 11. Croatia, 12. Slovenia.

All Star Team:
LH Pitcher: Carlos Ros (Spain)
RH Pitcher: Robin Roy (France)
Catcher: Andrej Selivanov (Russia)
1st Base: Andrea Castri (Italy)
2nd Base: Thomas Ovesny (Czech Republic)
3rd Base: Evert-Jan 't Hoen (The Netherlands)
Short Stop: Jendrik Speer (Germany)
Left Field: Claudio Liverziani (Italy)
Center Field: Peter Stroobants (Belgium)
Right Field: Daniele Newman (Italy)
Designated Hitter: Elston Hansen (The Netherlands)

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