(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Curt Smith opens new season in Nicaragua
Nederlands
  CHINANDEGA / MANAGUA (Nicaragua) -
Curt Smith has opened his new season in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional in Nicaragua.
The first baseman of the Netherlands Kingdom Baseball Team plays for Tigres de Chinandega.
Also playing in that team is catcher Andy Miguel Paz, who last year played for France at the European Baseball Championship in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
Last season, the Curaçao-born Curt Smith also played for Tigres, with whom he then won the Championship-title.
Also playing for the team then were Netherlands Team-players Yurendell De Caster and Dashenko Ricardo, who are currently not on the roster of Tigres.
As champion of Nicaragua, Tigres later participated in the Serie Latinoamericana in Colombia.
There, the team won the title by winning the Final against host Leones Comfacor de Montería with a 4-0 score.
The professional season in Nicaragua went underway on October 23.
On that day, Tigres played the opening game of the new season against Indios del Bóer in capital Managua.
With this game not only the new season started, it also was the opening of the new and beautiful Estadio Nacional de Beisbol 'Denis Martínez'.
The stadium is named after former Major League-pitcher Denis Martínez, who was the first Nicaraguan player to reach the Major League.
Martínez, nicknamed 'El Presidente', played for Baltimore Orioles (1976-1986), Montreal Expos (1986-1993), Cleveland Indians (1994-1996), Seattle Mariners (1997) and Atlanta Braves (1998).
The new stadium replaces the older Estadio Nacional Denis Martínez, which opened in 1948 and was named after the pitcher in 1998.
In December, the stadium also will be used during the Central American Games.
In the days before the official opening, the National Teams of Nicaragua and Taiwan already played three games in the stadium.
Martínez threw out the ceremonial first pitch, accompanied by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra.
All four teams in the league participated in the opening of the new stadium, as Tigers and Bóer were joined by Leones de Léon and Gigantes de Rivas.
Also participating in the opening were the players of the National Teams Under 10 and Under 14, which won the title at the Panamerican Championship.
In the inaugural game, Bóer won 2-1, scoring a run in the first and fourth inning.
Tigres scored its lone run in the ninth at bat.
Curt Smith was hitless in this first game.
...Curt Smith with the Netherlands Team during...
...the 2017 World Baseball Classic in March...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The next day, Tigres lost 3-2 in 13 innings against Leones de León.
The team led 2-1 after two innings, but was unable to take more distance.
León won thanks to a homerun by Erasmo Reyes in the top of the thirteenth inning.
In this game, Curt Smith was 2-for-5 with a double and batted in one run.
Last Friday, Tigers played its third game and again needed extra innings, but won 3-2 in eleven at León.
Trailing 2-0, Tigres scored in the fourth when Smith homered, then came alongside in the ninth.
Smith was 3-for-5, scored twice and batted in one.
For Smith, this was his 21st homerun in his Nicaraguan career.
Last Tuesday, Smith homered again.
This time against Gigantes de Rivas, which won the game with a 10-5 score.
Gigantes scored early and led 7-2 halfway the fourth inning.
Tigres then scored twice and in the ninth added another run when Smith (who was 2-for-4) homered.
Venezuelan Wuillians Vásquez, who once played in the Dutch big league for HCAW, was 2-for-5 for Gigantes and hit a 3-run homerun.
On Wednesday, Tigres faced Gigantes again and this time won 6-5.
Trailing 3-1, Tigres rallied for four runs in the sixth inning, but Gigantes came alongside by scoring in the seventh and eighth inning.
Tigres then scored the winning run in the top of the ninth.
The game was delayed for 34 minutes due to a power-failure in the rightfield light-tower.
After Wednesday's games, Tigres shares third place with León with a 2-3 record.
Gigantes is in first place after winning four of its six games played.
Bóer is second with a 3-3 record.
Curt Smith is currently the third best hitter with his .412 average.
(November 2)
|
