...Yurendel de Caster in Final...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
At Chinandega, on Tuesday (January 5), the Gigantes opened the semi-final vs. Tigres with a 6-5 win in eleven innings.
Trailing 1-0, Gigantes scored three runs in the fourth at bat and added a run in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.
But the Tigres answered with a 3-run rally in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a 3-run homerun by Jonel Pacheco, to make it a 4-4 tie.
As the score was still tied in the remainder of the game, extra innings followed to come to a decision.
The Gigantes scored twice in the top of the eleventh to re-take the lead.
The Tigres were able to score only one more run itself hereafter, which came on a homerun by Davis Paisano.
The Tigres outhit the Gigantes 13-12, including two hits by Curt Smith, who doubled once and batted in a run.
Roberto Ramírez collected three basehits, while Rubén Mateo registered three basehits for the Gigantes.
Yurendel de Caster had an unsuccessful outing for the Gigantes.
He struckout three times and grounded into a double play twice.
At Rivas, on Wednesday (January 6), the Gigantes also won the second game vs. the Tigres, this time with a 9-5 score.
The Gigantes had a productive first at bat, resulting in a 7-run rally to take an early comfortable lead.
After adding a run in the second inning, the Gigantes led 8-0 when the Tigres scored three runs in the fifth and narrowed the deficit to 8-4 by scoring another run in the sixth.
The Gigantes collected 14 basehits, including two by Yurrendel de Caster, who alsco scored twice and also batted in two runs.
In the 7-run rally in the first inning, Jimmy González had two basehits.
During the rally, De Caster also delivered a basehit, which ended a slump of 25 innings without a basehit in the postseason.
Tigres-Manager Raúl Chávez was ejected after arguing when a homerun by Jonel Pacheco was declared a foul ball.
...Curt Smith...
...Grand Slam Homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
At Chinandega, on Friday (January 8), the Tigres won their first game, beating the Gigantes 9-7.
With the Tigres leading 2-1, the Gigantes took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning by scoring four runs.
The Tigres had taken an 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jonel Pacheco homered, but the team trailed 6-2 in the seventh inning.
The Tigres then came alongside in the bottom of the seventh inning when Curt Smith hit a grand slam homerun and took a 9-6 lead by scoring three runs in the next at bat.
Both teams collected 11 basehits in this game.
At Rivas, on Saturday (January 9), the Gigantes won 7-2 to win the best-of-five semi-final 3-1.
With that, the Gigantes qualified for the NIcaraguan Championship-final for the third consecutive year.
Trailing 1-0, the Gigantes again had a productive at bat, this time scoring four runs in the second inning.
The team added two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to take a commanding lead.
The Gigantes collected 12 basehits, including one by Yurendel de Caster and one by Venezuelan Wuillians Vásquez, who played in the Dutch big league some years ago for HCAW.
Wellknown Cuban German Mesa will return to the LBPN Final as Manager for the third time.
In the 2012-2013 season, he led Chinandega Tigers to the title.
Last season (2014-2015), he also was the Manager of the Gigantes, but then lost the Final to Bóer.
One of Mesa's Assistant Coaches is Omar Linares, another famous former slugger of the Cuban National Team.
Related Articles:
 Curt Smith moves into first place in Nicaragua with Tigres. (Nov. 29)
Curt Smith homers in first game in Nicaragua. (November 27)
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Yurendel de Caster in Nicaraguan Final
CHINANDEGA / GRANADA / MANAGUA / RIVAS (Nicaragua) -
Yurendel de Caster will play in the Championship Final of the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional, the professional league in Nicaragua.
With his team Gigantes de Rivas, De Caster won the best-of-five semi-final against Tigres de Chinandega, the team of Curt Smith.
Both De Caster and Smith are member of the Netherlands National Kingdom Team and participated in November last year in the Premier12 in Taiwan.
In recent years, they also participated with the Orange squad in the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and the European Championship in 2014.
The regular season in Nicaragua ended on Sunday, January 3.