Home British baseball Great Britain shut out by the Netherlands

Great Britain shut out by the Netherlands

by Matt Smith

Great Britain are still searching for their first victory in the second round of the Baseball World Cup after they were shutout by the Netherlands in a 6-0 loss yesterday.  Team GB now have two more attempts to get that elusive win, beginning with a game today against Spain at midday British time. 

The Netherlands entered their game against Great Britain with a perfect 4-0 record.  That record was never seriously put under threat, although the team can once again be proud of their battling efforts against a team ranked sixth in the most recent International Baseball Federation rankings. 

A full report of the game can be found on the Great Britain Baseball website.  The scoring started in the second inning when Raily Legito hit a solo home run off GB’s starter Aeden McQueary.  Legito is a firm favourite with the Rotterdam crowd that he plays in front of in the Dutch Major League for DOOR Neptunus and they certainly enjoyed his early contribution.  The home crowd was soon celebrating again when Hainley Statia, a member of the L.A. Angels’ Double-A team Arkansas Travelers, tripled home Sharlon Schoop and then scored himself on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. 

Falling to an early deficit was always going to make it difficult for Great Britain and so it proved.  The Dutch starter Tom Stuifbergen struck out five over seven scoreless innings in another game where Britain’s batters couldn’t string a series of hits together, leaving ten runners stranded on base overall.  However, there were some success stories along the way, with catcher Chris Berset going 3-for-4 and McQueary backing his seven innings of pitching with a 2-for-4 day at the plate. 

The Dutch extended their lead to 4-0 in the seventh inning as Eugene Kingsale singled home Dashenko Ricardo.  Kingsale played in the Major Leagues between 1996 and 2003 for the Orioles, Mariners, Padres and Tigers, which gives you an idea of the quality of opposition GB were facing.  The Netherlands tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning to complete their 6-0 win. 

You can watch the highlights of this game, as well as Britain’s other second round games, via the Game Highlights page on the official Baseball World Cup website.

Great Britain will be playing in the Neptunus Family Stadium in Rotterdam again today.  British fans will fondly recall their team’s fantastic victory against Spain in front of a passionate Barcelona crowd during the 2007 European Baseball Championships.  Memories of that game should convince the British team that this could be their day.

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