Gregory Gustina

Gregory Gustina

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Born August 12, 1973 on Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

Biographical information

Gregory Gustina is a pitcher for Hoofdklasse baseball player.

Gustina played for the Dutch Antilles in the 1995 Pan American Games. He debuted in Hoofdklasse Honkbal in 1999 with Sparta/Feyenoord. In 2001, the tall left-hander pitched for the Amsterdam Pirates. He moved to PSV in 2002 and was 7-3 to tie for 8th in the league in wins. The next year, he remained with PSV. He moved to Almere in 2004 and tied Jeroen Deken and Forstin Coenraad for fourth in complete games (3). In 2005, Gregory was 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA for Kinheim. He was 6th in Hoofdklasse in ERA, tied for 9th in wins, tied for 10th with 2 complete games and tied for 7th with two saves. In 84 IP, he struck out 50 and allowed 60 hits and one home run. When Duko Jansen was hurt, Gustina filled in during the 2005 European Championship, with three shutout innings spread over a team-high four games as the Netherlands won it all. He also pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings (allowing six hits and no walks) in the 2005 Baseball World Cup as the Dutch national team finished 4th, their best ever to that point.

In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, the big southpaw was on the Dutch roster but did not pitch.

With Neptunus losing several star performers, Gustina helped to try to fill in one of the gaps in 2006. He went 8-2 with a 3.64 ERA and tied Satoru Fujii for fifth in the league in victories. He was 9th with 48 strikeouts and tied for 10th with one save.

In the 2006 Haarlem Baseball Week, Gustina allowed one run in 1 2/3 IP of work. He allowed two runs in 1 2/3 IP in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup but the Dutch team still finished second.

In 2007, Gustina had a 1.88 ERA in 14 relief appearances for Neptunus, with one save, one win and one loss. In the 2007 World Port Tournament, he allowed two hits and one run in one inning of work. Gustina allowed two runs in two innings in the 2008 European Cup in Regensburg for third-place Neptunus. He was 0-1 with a save and a 2.04 ERA as a reliever for Neptunus in 2008.

Gregory was 6-6 with a 2.36 ERA for Sparta/Feyenoord in 2009 with only 20 walks in 91 2/3 IP. He was 10th in ERA (between Pim Walsma and Frank van Heijst), tied for 8th in wins (with Rob Cordemans and Patrick Beljaards) and was 9th in innings. He fell to 4-7, 3.25 in 2010 but was 2 for 4 at the plate. He led in innings (105 2/3), tied Eddie Aucoin for 8th in strikeouts (67) and tied Justin Prinstein for fourth in losses.

After a four-year absence, Gustina returned to the Dutch national team. In the 2010 Haarlem Baseball Week, the 36-year-old was 1-0 despite 11 hits and 7 runs in 4 2/3 IP. Only Nick Veltkamp had a worse ERA for the Dutch; Gustina's win came in a combined shutout against Japan. He edged Dave Draijer as the oldest Dutch player in the 2010 European Championship, when they won Silver, the first time they failed to get Gold since the 1990s. He was the worst Dutch starter in round one, allowing two runs in four innings in a win over the Ukrainian national team. He started the first Dutch loss, giving up eight hits and three runs (one earned) in a no-decision against Italy; Draijer took the defeat in relief.

Sources include Honkbalsite.com, Dutch baseball stats, Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch baseball site, Haarlem Honkbalweek site, Defunct IBAF site, 2005 Baseball World Cup site, 2008 European Cup in Regensburg