www.grand-slam.nl	International Baseball
	Headlines

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2017 by Marco Stoovelaar

(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen) Calvin Maduro wins Colombian title with Leones Nederlands MONTERÍA, Córdoba / SINCELEJO, Sucre (Colombia) - Leones Comfacor de Montería is the champion of the professional league in Colombia. On Saturday (January 21), Leones won 6-1 against Toros Coca-Cola de Sincelejo in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Final of the Liga Colombiana de Béisbol Profesional (LCBP). With that, Leones won the Series 4-2 and captured the second title in club-history. Leones, which played in its seventh Championship Final, also was the champion in the 2014-2015 season. Leones not only won the title, it also qualified for participation in the upcoming fifth edition of the Serie Latinoamericana, which it will host. Last year, during the fourth tournament in Nicaragua, the event initially was being awarded to Xalapa in México, but last month, it gave back the organisation. Colombia then decided to host the event and initially, the city of Sincelejo was named, the home of losing finalist Toros Coca-Cola de Sincelejo. Recently, Montería's Mayor Marcos Daniel Pineda García proposed that when Leones win the title, his city was willing to host the Serie Latinoamericana. That proposal was accepted by the LCBP and with that, Montería will be the host of the event for the second time. The Serie Latinoamericana opens next Thursday with the participation of the professional champions from Colomba, Nicaragua, Panamá and México. Netherlands Team-players Yurendell de Caster, Dashenko Ricardo and Curt Smith will participate with Nicaraguan champion Tigres de Chinandega. ...Calvin Maduro as Scout of the... ...Netherlands Baseball Team during the... ...2013 World Baseball Classic... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) Capturing the Championship-title also is a success for former Netherlands National Team-pitcher Calvin Maduro. The Aruban-born former Major League-pitcher was named Pitching Coach of Leones in October last year before the start of the new season. Leones was led by Jair Fernández, who took over as Manager on December 15, replacing Gustavo Bencid Jr. after some disappointing results. Calvin Maduro played professionally in 1992-2006 in the organizations of Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. In 1996, the righthanded pitcher made his Major League-debut, pitching for the Phillies, for whom he also pitched in 1997. In 2000-2002, Maduro pitched in 49 Major League-games for the Orioles. In total, he pitched in 68 games (39 starts) at the big league-level and was 10-19. In 2006, Maduro pitched for the Netherlands Baseball Team in the first World Baseball Classic. In 2013, Maduro was one of the scouts ot the Netherlands squad during the third edition of the global event. ...Chadwick Tromp hitting for... ...the Netherlands Baseball Team... ... during the 2016... ...European Championship in... ...Hoofddorp (Netherlands)... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) In the regular season, Toros Coca-Cola de Sincelejo finished in first place with a 23-19 record and automatically qualified for the Championship Final. They were followed by Leones Comfacor de Montería, who were 22-19. Caimanes Olimpica de Lorica closed the season in third place with a 22-20 record. Indios Claró de Cartagena was fourth and last in the standing with 16-25. Leones and Caimanes met each other in the best-of-five Pre Play-Off to decide the second finalist. Leones took the lead twice by winning Game One and Three, but Caimanes came alongside in the next game twice. In Game Five, Leones won 4-1 to win the Series, 3-2, and advance to the Final. By finishing in fourth place, Indios was eliminated for the Play-Offs. This season, Aruban-born catcher Chadwick Tromp played for Indios. In September last year, Tromp made his debut in the Netherlands National Team. He homered in his first at bat and went on to win the European Championship-title with the Orange squad. Playing for Indios, Tromp batted .275 (22-for-80) to become the team's fourth best hitter. Tromp recorded five doubles, one homerun, scored 10 runs and batted in seven. The 21-year old Tromp plays professionally in the organization of the Cincinnati Reds since 2013. Last season, he played for Daytona Tortugas in Single-A Advanced and batted .215 in 73 games. (January 23)

Game One In the opener, played at Estadio 20 De Enero in Sincelejo, the home-playing Toros shutout Leones, 3-0. Lefthander Porfirio López started for Toros and and threw seven strong innings. The Dominican gave up only two basehits. Yonata Ortega, also from the Dominican Republic, completed the game to earn a save. Leones-starter Deiver Sánchez pitched five innings and gave up the first two runs. Toros opened the score in the fourth inning thanks to a single by Dominican Manuel Joseph, which enabled Charlie Mirabal to score. Joseph led the league with 35 runs batted in. In the next at bat, catcher Cristian Correa homered to make it a 2-0 score. Correa had hit no homeruns in the regular season. The third run was added in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Mirabal.

Game Two The next day, also in Sincelejo, Leones equaled the Series by winning 5-4 in 12 innings in a game that lasted four hours and six minutes. Leones scored twice in the first inning off of starter José Almarante. The Dominican gave up a lead-off homerun to Diover Ávila. Moments later, a single by Juan Díaz brings in the second run. In the second inning, Leones lifted the lead to 3-0 on a single by Carlos Martínez. Toros starts to come back in the its second at bat, scoring two runs. Leones added another run in the fourth to make it 4-2 in its favor. But hereafter, the Toros-pitching held Leones scoreless and came alongside at the end of the game. In the bottom of the eighth, Dominican Juan Ciriaco homered. The third baseman got only 17 at bats on the regular season and had four basehits, including a double. In the ninth, Toros tied the score on a single by Venezuelan Grenny Cumana, who had led the league this season with 52 basehits. And so, Toros forced extra innings. In the twelfth, Leones re-took the lead when Diover Ávila scored on a wild pitch by Dominican reliever Yonata Ortega.

Game Three After the first two games, there was no travel day, but the teams traveled to Montería the next day, where Game Three was played in the evening. At Estadio 18 De Junio, Leones shutout Toros, 2-0, to take the lead in the best-of-seven Final. It was reported that this was one of the best games played in the professional Colombian League in recent years. Both starting pitchers did outstanding and the difference were two (Dominican) homeruns. Javier Ortiz threw eight strong innings for Leones, while Yesid Salazar went the distance for Toros. Both teams collected only four basehits and no errors were recorded in the game which lasted just over two hours. After six scoreless innings, Leones opened the score when Dominican Andy Vásquez homered in the seventh at bat. In the eighth, fellow-Dominican Eudy Piña also homered to make it a 2-0 score. In the top of the ninth inning, Charlie Mirabal and Manuel Joseph led off with back-to-back singles for Toros. But hereafter, closer Ernesto Frieri retired the next three batters to secure the lead. The 31-year old Frieri plays in the Major League in 2009-2015. The righthanded Colombian played for San Diego Padres (2009-2012), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2012-2014), Pittsburgh Pirates (2014) and Tampa Bay Rays (2015). He pitched in 298 games (all in relief) and was 11-13 with 73 saves.

Game Four Leones won 3-1 in Game Four to take a 3-1 lead in the Series. With that, the team was one win away from the Championship-title. Venezuelan Wilfred Ramírez started for Leones and threw 5-plus solid innings. But the lefthander also gave up the lone run Toros scored in this game when Juan Ciriaco scored when an error was made on a grounder by Manuel Joseph in the frrst inning. Leones reacted with three runs in the third at bat off of starter José Calero. Carlos Martínez scored the tying run when Juan Díaz walked with the bases loaded. After a pitching change, Diover Ávila and Carlos Willoughby both scored when an error was committed on a grounder by Andy Vásquez. Ramírez is relieved in the sixth by Yordani Reinoso, who throws 1 2/3 inning. Karl Lewis Triana then closed the game by throwing two scoreless innings to earn the save.

Game Five Back home in Sincelejo, Toros forced a sixth game by winning 2-1. Trailing 1-0, Toros came alongside in the seventh inning, then won in the ninth. In another attactive game, starting pitchers Charles Rosario and Porfirio Lopez both did great. Leones-starter Rosario gave up only two basehits in eight innings. Lefthander Lopez threw seven innings for Toros, struckout eight batters and gave up five hits. Closer Yonata Ortega then took over, struckout four, gave up no hits and became the winnining pitcher. Leones scored quickly in the first inning, as lead-off hitter Diover Ávila homered, but hereafter, the team was silenced. Initially, Toros was unable to do something back in its first six innings. But in the seventh, the team came alongside when Manuel Joseph scored on a grounder by Ronald Luna. In the ninth, off of closer Angel Tovar, Toros had runners on second and third base with two outs. Charlie Maribal then scored the winning run when Ronald Luna lined the ball into leftfield for a walk-off single.

Game Six After a day off, the Series continued on Saturday (January 21) in Montería. So far, the games were very attractive and full of suspence, watched by thousands of enthousiastic spectators. This led to a decision by the Liga Colombian de Béisbol Profesional, as well as Leones Comfacor de Montería to add two additional mobile stands for the sixth game. The two stands, both with a capacity of 500 spectators, were placed at each side of the playing fields, adjacent to the grand stand. With this, thousand more spectactors were given the opportunity to followed the game in a comfortable way. Playing at home, cheered by thousands of its enthousiastic fans, Leones immediately struck with three runs in the first inning off of starter Ronald Ramírez. Diover Ávila doubled and scored the first run on a single by Adrián Sánchez. Moments later, with two runners on base, Andy Vásquez delivered a 2-run single to make it a 3-0 score. Leones added another run in the second at bat. Bryan Martelo then singled and later scored on a wild pitch by reliever Carlos León. Toros scored what would be its lone run in the top of the third inning. Luis Liverato then doubled and went on to score on a single by Manuel Joseph. In the seventh inning, Leones scored two more insurance runs. With Carlos Martínez on the bases, Diover Ávila connected for a homerun to lift the lead to 6-1. Javier Ortiz threw a complete game for Leones and earned his second victory of the series. Afterwards, he was named Most Valuable Player of the Championship Final.

Thank you for visiting this site. Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl Copyright © 1997-2017 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.