Dave Eyckholt

• Born November 23, 1977

Biographical Information

Dave Eyckholt pitched in the Belgian First Division and for the Belgian national team.

In 1993, the 15-year-old was 1-6 with a 13.15 ERA for the Antwerp Eagles and hit .128/.222/.170. The next year, he was 0-1 with a 12.19 ERA and went 0 for 4. For Antwerp in '95, he improved to 1-4, 7.78 and .261/.320/.304. Moving to the Hoboken Pioneers, he had a 3-2, 9.46 record and batted .327/.403/.382. In 1997, he was 5-6 with a 8.05 ERA and produced at a .333/.396/.521 clip. He tied Kris Beeckmans for 5th in the high-scoring loop in wins and was third in IP (91 1/3).

Eyckholt went 7-3 with a 8.19 ERA in 1998 and hit .293/.357/.547. He was 10th in IP (73 2/3), 7th in wins and 7th in strikeouts (76). In 1999, he had a 12.60 ERA in 5 IP and went 1-for-9. He did not appear in the First Division in 2000. Returning in 2001 with the Mortsel Stars, he was 3-0 with a 3.70 ERA and batted .440/.533/.600 in 30 PA. Only two qualifiers had better ERAs. That won him a spot on the Belgian team for the 2001 European Championship. He saved Erwin Maes' win over Sweden, working 3 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings (he walked three). He started against Great Britain and got the victory over Alex Smith. He threw five shutout frames (4 H, 3 BB, 5 K) before Tom Lorrentop came in; his team got a 4-3 win. He was third in the event in ERA (Michael Lays and Petr Pacas were at 0.00 in more innings), 6th in opponent average (.148, between Rinat Makhmoutov and Riccardo De Santis), tied for second in saves (one behind Patrice Briones) and tied for fourth in wins (one shy of Alain Gadoua, Maxime Leblanc and Eelco Jansen).

Dave did not pitch in the 2002 First Division. In '03, he was 0-4 with a 2.85 ERA for the Borgerhout Squirrels and he was 4-2 with a 1.33 ERA for the 2004 Squirrels. He tied for 8th in wins and only one qualifier had a better ERA. That appears to have been the end of his career, though.

Source: Belgian Baseball and Softball Federation, International scorekeeper Harry Wedemeijer