2012 Haarlem Baseball Week

2012 Haarlemse Honkbalweek

The 2012 Haarlemse Honkbalweek was the twenty-sixth edition of the Haarlemse Honkbalweek, held every two years. It was held from July 13 to July 22, 2012, in Haarlem, Noord-Holland. The six teams competing were from the USA, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Japan, Cuba and Puerto Rico, with Cuba winning the title.

Competing teams

The following teams participated in the tournament:

Team	Nation	Previous appearances
Chinese Taipei	Chinese Taipei	1984, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
Cuba	Cuba	1972, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
Japan	Japan	1978, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
Netherlands	Netherlands	1961, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
USA	United States	1982, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008
Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	1992

Rosters

• Cuba: José Dariel Abreu, Freddy Asiel Álvarez, Erisbel Arruebarruena, Alexei Bell, Rusney Castillo, Frederich Cepeda, Alfredo Despaigne, Odrisamer Despaigne, Aledmis Díaz, Pablo Millán Fernández, Vladimir García, Norberto González, Yulieski Gourriel, Alexander Guerrero, Guillermo Heredia Jr., Dalier Hinojosa, Ismel Jiménez, William Luis, Leandro Martínez, Frank Camilo, Darién Núñez, Yadier Pedroso, Ariel Pestano, Rudy Reyes. Manager: Víctor Mesa.
• Japan: Takuto Anan, Ryo Enomoto, Yoshiki Eto, Takahiro Hayasaki, Motoki Higa, Toru Hirai, Kazuhito Hirano, Keita Honzaki, Masahiro Hori, Takuya Ikenoue, Tomu Inoue, Rikiya Kanegae, Shohei Komori, Akihiro Maekawa, Koki Matsuda, Keisuke Mekaru, Ginji Miyoshi, Naoyuki Morizono, Rui Nitta, Takahiro Shinohara, Yoshiki Takehara, Tomoharu Uema, Kazuto Wakizono, Ryoma Yamashiro
• Netherlands: Jeffrey Arends, Arshwin Asjes, David Bergman, Leon Boyd, Wesley Connor, Rob Cordemans, Bayron Cornelissen, Quintin de Cuba, Shaldimar Daantji, Berry van Driel, Michael Duursma, Bryan Engelhardt, Rashid Gerard, Kevin Heijstek, Rudy van Heydoorn, Bas de Jong, Rafaël Jozefa, Dwayne Kemp, Diegomar Markwell, Stijn van der Meer, Bas Nooij, Danny Rombley, Orlando Yntema. Manager: Brian Farley. Coaches: Steve Janssen, Tjerk Smeets, Wim Martinus, Ben Thijssen.
• Puerto Rico: Chris Amador, Juan Burgos, Antonio Candelaria, Benny Cepeda, Luis Cintron, Luis Cruz, Juan Diaz, Nelson Feliu, Richard Gonzalez, Heriberto Hernandez, Jorge Jimenez, Javier Marrero, Miguel Mejia, Aldo Mendez, Radames Nazario, Jaime Ortiz, Juan Padilla, Luis Rivera, Rabell Rivera, Rawell Rivera, Gabriel Robles, Ramesis Rosa, Yariel Soto, Milton Velazquez.
• Taiwan: Hung-Wen Chen, Jui-Mu Chen, Kuan-Ju Chen, Wei-Chih Chen, Yu-Hsun Chen, Wei-Hao Cheng, Meng-Chen Fan, Po-Ting Hsiao, Jung-Hao Hsieh, Wei-Chung Hsueh, Sheng-Hsiung Huang, Chun-Lin Kuo, Po-Kai Lai, Chih-Hsien Lin, Han Lin, Po-Yu Lin, Wei-Ting Lin, Chi-Wei Lin Wang, Chao-Ting Tang, Chih-Yu Tsai, Tsung-Hsuan Tseng, Chun-Chieh Wang, Meng-Hsiung Yu, Tsung-Han Yu. Manager: Wei-Chen Chen. Coaches: An-Hsi Li, Tai-Yuan Kuo, Shih-Yang Lee, Chung-I Lin, Cheng-Hsun Hsieh
• USA: David Berg, Kris Bryant, Dan Child, Michael Conforto, Austin Cousino, Jonathon Crawford, Kyle Farmer, Johnny Field, Adam Frazier, Marco Gonzales, Brett Hambright, Jordan Hankins, Michael Lorenzen, D.J. Peterson, Colton Plaia, Adam Plutko, Jake Reed, Carlos Rodon, Ryne Stanek, Jose Trevino, Trea Turner, Bobby Wahl, Trevor Williams. Manager: Dave Serrano. Coaches: Jason Gill, George Horton, Mitch Karraker, Andy Stankiewicz.

Games

July 13

• Japan 4, Taiwan 1. Ryoma Yamashiro and four relievers combine to five-hit the other Asian entry, while Toru Hirai scores two runs.
• Puerto Rico 3, Cuba 2. The Cubans fall in an opening upset as Benny Cepeda beats Ismel Jiménez. Frederich Cepeda drives in both Cuban runs with a 4th-inning double. Puerto Rico breaks the 2-2 tie in the 8th when Radames Nazario drives in Nelson Feliu.

July 14

• USA 4, Japan 1. Marco Gonzales and David Berg combine on a 3-hit, 12-K effort with a homer by Yoshiki Eto the lone blemish. Leadoff man Trea Turner does his job for the US, with 3 walks and 2 runs.
• Puerto Rico 4, Netherlands 2. The hosts lose their opener as Milton Velazquez outduels Rob Cordemans, who recently became the all-time Hoofdklasse win leader. An error by Wesley Connor in center lets Puerto Rico score the go-ahead run in the 7th.

July 15

• Netherlands 3, Taiwan 0. David Bergman and Berry van Driel toss a 6-hit, walk-free shutout to beat Jung-hao Hsieh. Rudy van Heydoorn doubles twice and drives in the winning run in his first tournament for the Dutch.
• USA 5, Cuba 2. US second baseman Trea Turner continues to shine, going 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, a walk, steal, 2 runs and a RBI, while Carlos Rodon gets the win over Freddy Asiel Álvarez.

July 17

• Cuba 2, Taiwan 1. Cuba nearly fell to 0-3, allowing an unearned run in the 5th on an error by 2B Rudy Reyes. They trailed 1-0 until the 8th, when they finally got to Meng-Chen Fan. With one out, Yulieski Gourriel walked and Frederich Cepeda smacked a 2-run homer.
• Puerto Rico 3, USA 2. Puerto Rico remained unbeaten with an upset over the US. The US scored first, when Jose Trevino singled in Michael Conforto in the second against Juan Padilla. In the 4th, Puerto Rico went ahead on a two-out walk by Ryne Stanek to Antonio Candelaria and a homer by Jorge Jiménez. In the 6th, the US tied it as sparkplug Trea Turner singled, advanced on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by D.J. Peterson. Puerto Rico came back to take the lead for good in the bottom of the 6th as Stanek issued a walk and reliever David Berg added two more, then threw a wild pitch.
• Netherlands 18, Japan 3. The Orange had the first high-scoring game of the tourney, pounding Japan with 18 hits and 18 runs. Michael Duursma, Dwayne Kemp, Bas de Jong and Rudy van Heydoorn all get three hits, van Heydoorn falling a triple shy of the cycle. Van Heydoorn drives in 5 and de Jong four, while Shaldimar Daantji scores four runs from the 9th spot of the order.

July 18

• Puerto Rico 7, Japan 5. Puerto Rico's pitchers have their worst outing yet, but the club stays in first place. Rawell Rivera gets the win and Rabell Rivera the save, while Naoyuki Morizono is saddled with the loss. Neither team has one standout on offense, both using balanced attacks.
• USA 2, Taiwan 0. The winless Taiwan battles the US zero-for-zero for 7 and a half innings. Just like against Cuba yesterday, Taiwan's starter holds a strong offense scoreless. Chun-Lin Kuo fans 9 in a 4-hit gem, but he is matched by Adam Plutko and three US relievers (who allow just two hits between them). In the bottom of the 8th, the Americans finally end the shutout. Austin Cousino walks and scores on a double by Kyle Farmer. Johnny Field later doubles in Farmer for an insurance run.

July 19

• Cuba 12, Japan 1. In a game reminiscent of Cuban offenses of earlier eras, Guillermo Heredia Jr. and Rusney Castillo both score 3 runs and Yulieski Gourriel drives in 3 as the Cubans batter Japan for 15 hits. Starter Motoki Higa gives up 8 hits and 5 runs in four innings. Norberto González gets the win. Toru Hirai is a one-man offense, getting half of Japan's six hits today.
• USA 1, Netherlands 0. The hosts and the Americans got involved in a superb pitching duel, with the US edging out for a 1-0 win despite mustering only 3 hits. The Netherlands challenged Carlos Rodon in the third on three straight hits to open the inning, all on bunts as Stijn van der Meer, Shaldimar Daantji and Mike Duursma all reached. That brought up Dwayne Kemp, a former Cubs farmhand, who hit a hard shot that US 1B D.J. Peterson lunged to catch. Peterson then returned to first to force Duursma. Bas de Jong, the #3 batter, then whiffed on a full count, to end the bast Dutch rally of the day. Rodon and Dan Child combined on a 13-strikeout, 7-hit shutout. Meanwhile, Orlando Yntema held the US to one hit and no runs in four, but was replaced by Leon Boyd. That did not work out as the US scored in the 5th thanks to Boyd's wildness. With one out, both Austin Cousino and Kyle Farmer got plunked and Brett Hambright drew a four-pitch walk. Michael Lorenzen was then plunked to force in the run. Boyd allowed nothing further but the damage had been done.

July 20

• Puerto Rico 6, Taiwan 5. Puerto Rico survived a scare in a duel of baseball-loving islands. They burst out for a 4-run first against Kuan-Ju Chen, with a 3-run homer off the bat of Antonio Candelaria the big blow. Taiwan rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 5th, though, and stayed close the remainder of the way but never closed the gap.
• Cuba 4, Netherlands 0. Vladimir García and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout to beat Kevin Heijstek and the Netherlands. Yulieski Gourriel went 2 for 2 with 3 walks and 2 RBI, while #9 batter Erisbel Arruebarruena was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and a RBI.

July 21

• Cuba 5, USA 3. Two world powers engaged in a fine battle for a spot in the finals, with the Cubans eking out an extra-inning win. For four innings, both Jonathon Crawford (US) and Freddy Asiel Álvarez (Cuba) tossed shutout ball. Álvarez faded first, in the 5th, as Austin Cousino opened with a single and SS Erisbel Arruebarruena made an error. Kyle Farmer then singled in Cousino for a 1-0 lead. An inning later, Álvarez walked D.J. Peterson and Kris Bryant with two out. Norberto González came in for relief to face Cousino, who grounded to Arruebarruena, but got an infield hit to load the bases. Yadier Pedroso relieved. Brett Hambright grounded to short and Arruebarruena failed to get the force at second, Peterson scoring for a 2-0 edge. In the 7th, Trea Turner doubled off Pedroso, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Field to make it 3-0, USA.

Cuba staged their comeback in the 8th. Crawford finally tired, plunking Rudy Reyes and walking pinch-hitter William Luis. Bobby Wahl was summoned to replace the flagging Crawford. He got Guillermo Heredia Jr. and Rusney Castillo on grounders, both of which advanced the runners, making it 3-1. Gourriel singled in Luis, then stole second. Alfredo Despaigne then singled as well, scoring Gourriel with the tying run.

The US had a good shot in the bottom of the 8th. With one out, Bryant and Cousino hit back-to-back singles off Pedroso. Ismel Jiménez relieved and walked pinch-hitter Marco Gonzales to load the bases. He recovered to whiff Farmer and get a ground-out from Adam Frazier to escape the jam. In the top of the 9th, Cuba almost went ahead as well. Ariel Pestano led off with a single, was bunted over and took third on a wild pitch but was stranded as Alexander Guerrero and Heredia both grounded out to Farmer.

In the top of the 10th, thanks to the Schiller Rule, Cuba started with two men on. Castillo bunted them over then Gourriel and Cepeda both drew walks from Michael Lorenzen to make it 4-3. Despaigne tacked on a sac fly for a 5-3 edge. In the bottom of the inning, Pablo Millán Fernández got Field to fly out. Jose Trevino grounded the runners over. Darién Núñez was summoned as Cuba's 7th hurler of the day and retired Lorenzen to end it.

•  Puerto Rico 1,  Netherlands 0. A pitching duel took place in the other semifinal, with David Bergman (Netherlands) and Luis Cintron (Puerto Rico) battling in front of 2,900 fans. The two clubs combined for only 7 hits (3 by the Netherlands, 4 by Puerto Rico) and 2 walks (one each). The game's lone run came in the 4th. Jaime Ortiz hit a one-out double off Bergman. An out later, Bergman intentionally walked Jorge Jimenez but the move backfired as Antonio Candelaria singled to left to plate Ortiz.

July 22

• USA 4,  Netherlands 3. The US edged the Dutch entry for the third-place finish in front of 4,500 in attendance. The Netherlands scored first, in the third, against Marco Gonzales. Shaldimar Daantji doubled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a Mike Duursma single. Through four innings, veteran Rob Cordemans shut out the US but they tied the score in the 5th on a double by Austin Cousino and a single by Kyle Farmer.

In the 6th, the US took the lead for good. Johnny Field singled and Jose Trevino followed with a double. Brian Farley replaced Cordemans with Orlando Yntema, but D.J. Peterson greeted the reliever with a RBI single. Kris Bryant hit into a force at third and Cousino walked, then Farmer drove in another run, this time with a sac fly. The US got some insurance in the 7th against relief pitcher Diegomar Markwell as Michael Lorenzen walked, was balked to second, was bunted to third and then scored on a wild pitch by another reliever, Arshwin Asjes.

The Netherlands rallied in the 9th, but unlike Cuba against the US yesterday, fell short. Against David Berg, pinch-hitter Quintin de Cuba doubled with one away and another pinch-hitter, Rafaël Jozefa, singled him in to make it 4-2. A third pinch-hitter, Bryan Engelhardt, whiffed, but Bas de Jong then had a pinch-hit single. Finally, the Dutch did not pinch-hit and Stijn van der Meer made it a one-run game with a single, putting the potential go-ahead run aboard and the potential tying run on third base. Dave Serrano gave up on Berg and turned instead to Dan Child, who fanned Daantji on a full count to end it.

•  Cuba 4,  Puerto Rico 2. Puerto Rico had started 6-0, but fell in the game that mattered most as Cuba won the title. In the second, Frederich Cepeda took Juan Padilla deep for the 700th homer in Haarlem Baseball Week history. Puerto Rico went ahead in the 4th against Odrisamer Despaigne. Jaime Ortiz doubled, then scored on a single by Luis Rivera, who took second on the throw home. Rivera advanced on a grounder. After a walk, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Yariel Soto. Norberto González relieved Despaigne and shut down Puerto Rico the rest of the way.

Cuba tied the score in the 5th. Ariel Pestano drew a leadoff walk from Padilla and was bunted over. After an out and a walk to Guillermo Heredia Jr., Rusney Castillo singled Pestano in to knock Padilla out. Benny Cepeda relieved. The game remained 2-2 until the 8th. With one away in the 8th, Yulieski Gourriel drew a walk, then stole second. Benny Cepeda walked Frederich Cepeda intentionally to bring up Cuba's two biggest guns of the 2011-2012 Serie Nacional. Alfredo Despaigne flew out. José Dariel Abreu grounded to 3B Jorge Jiménez, who made a run-scoring error. Pestano then singled in Frederich Cepeda to make it 4-2.

Final rankings

Rank	Team
1	Cuba
2	Puerto Rico
3	USA
4	Netherlands
5	Japan
6	Chinese Taipei

Awards

The following awards were handed out:

• Jacques Reuvers Award: Yulieski Gourriel,  Cuba
• Carl Angelo Award: Po-Ting Hsiao,  Chinese Taipei
• Press Award: Ariel Pestano,  Cuba
• Homerun King: Yoshiki Eto,  Japan
• Best Hitter: Michael Duursma,  Netherlands
• Best Pitcher: Marco Gonzales, USA
• Best Defending Player: D.J. Peterson, USA