(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
   Curt Smith homers in first game in Nicaragua
Nederlands
 RIVAS (Nicaragua) -
Curt Smith and Yurendell de Caster, who participated with the Netherlands Kingdom Team earlier this month in the Premier12 in Taiwan, are continuing their professional career in Nicaragua.
...Curt Smith... | 
...Yurendell de Caster... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
On Wednesday (November 25), Smith played in his first game of the season for the Tigres de Chinandega and made an impressive debut.
Smith went 3-for-5, homered, scored a run and had five runs batted in and helped his team winning 12-9.
In the game against the Gigantes de Rivas, the Tigres scored twice in the first inning and added a run in the third at bat.
The Tigres then rallied for four runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a 3-run homerun by Smith.
His team went on to increase the lead to 9-0 in the top of the sixth inning.
The Gigantes then scored three runs in its sixth and narrowed the deficit to 9-4 in the next at bat.
In the eighth, the Tigres took more distance by scoring three runs.
Trailing 12-4, the Gigantes scored five more runs in its final two at bats, but was left empty-handed, thank to the productive hitting of Smith.
Playing for the Gigantes was Yurendell de Caster, who was a teammate of Smith in the Kingdom-squad in Taiwan.
De Caster went 2-for-3 and scored one run in what also was his first game this season.
On Thursday (November 26), De Caster was 1-for-5, scored twice and batted in one run for the Gigantes in a 12-3 win vs. Indios del Bóer.
Smith and the Tigres had no game scheduled on Thursday.
...Roger Luque... | 
...Wuillians Vásquez... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
A teammate of De Caster at the Gigantes is Venezuelan Wuilliams Vásquez, who played for HCAW in the Dutch big league in 2010 and also has played in Italy.
The infielder already has played in 17 games this season for the Gigantes and is hitting .286 (18-for-63) after Thursday.
Venezuelan pitcher Roger Luque, who also played for HCAW in 2010, also plays in Nicaragua this season.
He appeared in four games so far for league-leader Oriental de Granada and is 3-0, striking out 17 batters.
In the 2011/2012 season, Vásquez (who then played for Bóer) led the league with 51 runs batted in.
He was the best hitter in 2013/14 with a .351 average.
De Caster led the Nicaraguan league in the 2012/13 season in hitting (.416), homeruns (13) and runs batted in (56) when he played for the Tigres, winning the Triple Crown.
Last season (2014/15), De Caster (who then also played for the Gigantes) was the best hitter of the professional league in Nicaragua, htting .368, while Rudy Van Heydoorn (who played in the Dutch big league for ADO Lakers and Neptunus) led with six homeruns.
Smith and the Tigres are currently in second place behind Granada with a 9-8 record.
De Caster's team Gigantes is in third place with an 8-9 record.
Granada leads La Liga Nicaragüense de Béisbol Profesional with a 9-7 record.
Last years champion Bóer completes the four-team league with a 7-9 record.
The professional baseball-league in Nicaragua was inaugurated in 1956 and nowadays is named Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional.
(November 27)
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