Smith Excelling for the Netherlands at the World Baseball Classic
Orono, Maine – Former University of Maine baseball players Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao) and Jonathan Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao) have made it to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic for the Netherlands. The Netherlands advanced with a 7-6 walk off win over Cuba Monday night at the Tokyo Dome.
Smith came to the plate five times in the victory, registering three hits with one RBI and was left on base once. He has played in a total of 6 games for his home country thus far. With 20 at bats, Curt has posted a .400 batting average with eight hits, three runs, and three RBI's. Smith went deep in a 6-2 win against Cuba last Thursday night.
Balentina has seen action in two games thus far, pitching in 0.2 innings.
The Kingdom of Netherlands returns to action on Tuesday, March 12 at 6:00 AM (local time) as they battle Japan in the semifinals.
