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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
    Colombia & Panama open World Baseball Classic Qualifier with victories
Nederlands
 PANAMA CITY (Panama) -
Colombia opened the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in the Panamanian capital Panama City today (Thursday, March 17) with a convincing 9-2 victory against Spain.
In the evening, host Panama won with the same score vs. France at Estadio Rod Carew.
With this, Spain and France will now play against each other on Friday.
The loser of this game will be eliminated.
The winner of this game meets the loser of the match-up between Colombia and Panama.
Today, another Qualifying Tournament also went underway in Mexicali (México) with the participation of the Czech Republic, Germany, Nicaragua and host México.
The fourth and last tournament will be played in September in Brooklyn (USA).
Participating in that event will be Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan.
In February the first WBC Qualifier took place in Sydney (Australia).
There, host Australia won the final against South Africa to become the thirteenth country to qualify for the fourth edition of the World Baseball Classic, which will be held in the Spring of 2017.
Canada, China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, South Korea, USA and Venezuela already qualified earlier, based on their accomplishments during the last Classic in 2013.
Just as in 2013, the World Baseball Classic will have the status again as World Championship.
Back then, the Dominican Republic won the title and was crowned as World Champion.
In 2011, the Netherlands was the final team to capture the World Championship-title in a World Cup Tournament old-style, which then was held in Panama.
(March 17)
Related Articles:
 Australia wins first World Baseball Classic Qualifier. (February 14, 2016)
South Africa second finalist in World Baseball Classic Qualifier. (February 13, 2016)
Australia in Final World Baseball Classic Qualifier. (February 12, 2016)
Australia, South Africa open WBC Qualifier with convincing win. (February 11, 2016)
First World Baseball Classic Qualifier to open in Australia. (February 10, 2016)
Dominican Republic new Classic-champion. (March 19, 2013)
Dutch Team ends up short in semi-final. (March 18, 2013)
Dutch Baseball Team World Champion! (October 15, 2011)
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Game 1 - Spain vs. Colombia
In the opener of the event, which lasted three hours and 42 minutes, Colombia took an early lead by scoring runs in the first and third inning, then added three more in the fifth at bat and rallied for four in the eighth.
Spain scored both of its runs in the sixth inning.
Manager of Colombia is Luis Urueta, who also was a member of the coaching staff during the Qualifier in 2013.
There are 16 players on the Colombian roster, who play in Major League-organizations.
Spain is managed by Manny Crespo, who served as the team's Bench Coach on several other events, including the 2009 World Championship and 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Spain has four Minor League-players on its roster: pitcher Rogelio Armenteros (Houston Astros), pitcher Lazaro Leyva (Baltimore Orioles), catcher Carlos Sierra (Houston Astros) and infielder Luis Guillorme (New York Mets).
Sergio Pérez was the starting pitcher for Spain and he was off to a good start, as the first batter grounded out, then the next one struckout.
But hereafter, Reynaldo Rodríguez walked, moved to third base on a a single by Jesús Valdez and scored on a single by Adrian Sanchez.
From that moment on,Spain trailed the entire game.
In its first at bat off of William Cuevas, Spain got two baserunners with two outs, when Oscar Angulo reached on an error and Yunesky Sanchez walked, but both stranded.
...Jesús Golindano...
...runscoring single...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Colombia then added its second run in the third inning.
Lead-off hitter Harold Ramirez reached second base on a throwing error, moved on a wild pitch, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Dilson Herrera.
Spain registered its first basehit in the fourth inning, when Jesús Ustaríz singled with two outs, but he was left behind.
In the fifth inning, Colombia rallied for three runs with two outs.
Reynaldo Rodríguez tripled with one out, which led to a pitching change.
With two outs, Mauricio Ramos and Steve Brown both singled in a run, then a basesloaded walk for Carlos Vidal made it 5-0.
Spain then narrowed the deficit to 5-2 in the sixth inning.
Yunesky Sanchez and Engel Beltre led off with walks.
After a pitching change, the bases got loaded when Jesús Ustaríz singled.
The first run was then scored when Blake Ochoa grounded into a double play and Jesús Golindano followed with a runscoring single.
Colombia then decided the game with a 4-run rally in the top of the eighth inning.
With the bases loaded, a missed catch in the outfield led to three costly runs.
Colombia had only two hits more than Spain (9-7), but the Spanish squad left ten runners behind.
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Game 2 - Panama vs. France
Panama struck early and led 4-0 after four innings.
France then scored its first run, but Panama answered with four runs to decide the game.
Panama is managed by Carlos Lee, who played in 14 Major League-seasons and played for Panama himself during the Classics in 2006 and 2009.
Panama has ten players on its roster, who are affiliated with Major League-clubs.
Former Major League-closer Éric Gagné is the Manager of France.
Gagné won the Cy Young Award in 2003 and recorded 187 saves in ten Major League-seasons.
Only one player on the French roster is affiliated with a Major League-club, catcher Andy Patz, who plays in the organization of the Oakland A's.
Norbert Jongerius, who plays in the Dutch big league for UVV, was 0-for-2 for France after entering the game halfway.
Panama opened the score in the first inning off of starter Owen Ozanich on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Ruiz.
The home team added two runs in the second at bat, thanks to a 2-run single by Eduardo Thomas and made it 4-0 when Ruiz homered in the third inning.
Panamanian starter Paolo Espiño retired the first nine batters in a row, then was replaced in the fourth by Alberto Acosta.
With one out, Felix Brown became the first French runner when he reached on an error, but he was left behind.
The No-Hitter was broken in the top of the fifth when Andy Paz singled with one out.
He then stole second base, then scored on a 2-out double by Frederic Hanvi.
Panama then took more distance by scoring four runs in its fifth at bat.
Ozanich first struckout the first two batters, but then gave up a double to Jonathan Saavedra.
That led to a leg-injury for French rightfielder Jacquies Boucheron, who was then replaced by Norbert Jongerius.
He became the new leftfielder, while Douglas Rodriguez switched from left to rightfield.
Moments later, Carlos Ruiz homered again to bring in two runs.
When Carlos Quiroz followed with a double, Ozanich was replaced by Jonathan Mottay.
Quiroz then also left with a leg-injury and his pinch-runner scored when next batter Javier Guerra also homered.
Jongerius led off the sixth inning, facing reliever Luis Machuca, but then grounded out.
Later in the at bat, Maxime Lefevre tripled with two outs, but he stranded when René Leveret grounded out.
The 30-year old Leveret was born on the French part of Saint Martin and plays professionally since 2006.
Since 2010, he plays in Independent Leagues.
In 2014, he participated with France in the European Championship in the Czech Republic.
Panama added a run on an error in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-1.
In the eighth, with two outs, Jongerius reached on an error and stole second base, but then was left behind.
France scored its second run in the ninth.
With one out, Leveret walked and went on to score on a 2-out single by Jorge Hereaud.
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