(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
      Tigres wins second game in Serie Latinoamericana
Nederlands
 MONTERÍA, Córdoba (Colombia) -
Tigres de Chinandega registered a convincing 7-2 victory against Mexican champion Chileros de Xalapa on Friday-afternoon (January 27), Day 2 of the fifth edition of the Serie Latinoamericana in Montería (Colombia).
Tigres opened the event on Thursday with a 5-2 victory against host Leones Comfacor de Montería.
For the Mexicans, it was their second loss, after losing 3-1 to Panamá Metro on Thursday.
The teams that finish in first and second place will face each other on Sunday in the Final.
With two victories, Tigres is in a good position to reach the Final.
In the evening, host Leones Comfacor de Montería nipped Panamá Metro 2-1.
In a suspenseful game, Colombia took an 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third off of lefthanded starter Luis Ramos.
Alejandro Villalobos reached on an error, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Charlie Mirabal.
The Panamanian champion came alongside in the fourth.
Anthony Amaya singled, moved on a single by Nelson Robledo and a wild pitch, then scored on a double play-grounder by Luis Barahona.
Leones then re-took the lead in the eighth when Diover Ávila homered.
In the top of the ninth, Dominican closer Yonata Ortega took the mound for Leones and secured the minimal lead.
Ávila has had a great season in the professionall Colombian League and now is productive again in the Serie Latinoamericana.
That earned him a spot on the roster of the National Team for the upcoming World Baseball Classic in which Colombia will participate for the first time.
Because of the Colombian victory, a 3-way tie is possible between Colombia, Nicaragua and Panamá after Saturday's games.
The result of the game between the champions of Nicaragua and Panamá then will be decisive.
At Estadio 18 de Junio, both the Nicaraguan and Mexican team were retired in order in the first inning on Friday-afternoon, but then Tigres rallied for five runs in the second at bat to decide the game early.
Tigres got the bases loaded quickly off of starting pitcher Rene Coss.
Curt Smith led off with a double, then Yurendell de Caster walked and the bases got loaded when Osman Marval singled.
Hereafter, a wild pitch accounted for the first run.
With runners on second and third base, Dashenko Ricardo struckout.
In the opening game on Thursday, the catcher had scored once and batted in three runs to account for four of the five runs his team scored.
With one out, a pop-up by Jesús López was dropped by the Mexican third baseman, resulting in the next run.
Hereafter, with runners on first and third base, Everth Cabrera homered to increase the lead to 5-0.
The Nicaraguan champion, which was outhit 11-8, added another run in the third inning.
Edgard Montiel led off with a double, then Curt Smith was hit by a pitch.
Smith was then forced out on a grounder by Yurendell de Caster.
Montiel advanced to third base and then scored the sixth run for Tigres on a sacrifice fly by Orman Marval.
The Mexican opponent had runners on first and second base in the second inning with one out off of starter Mainor Mora, but he was then supported with a double play.
Trailing 6-0, Xalapa got one run back in its third at bat.
Rodrigo Hernandez led off with a single, then the bases got loaded with one out when Eduardo Arredondo and Omar Mendoza also singled.
An infield-fly accounted for the second out, but moments later, Hernandez scored when Francisco Rivera walked.
Three runners stranded when a force play-grounder ended the at bat.
The Mexicans scored their second run in the bottom of the fourth inning, thanks to back-to-back doubles by Rodrigo Hernandez and Tony Córdoba with two outs.
Tigres scored its seventh run in the top of the seventh inning.
With one out, César Díaz and Everth Cabrera singled, then Darrel Campbell delivered a runscoring double.
With runners on second and third base and two outs, Gabriel Cervantes was brought in as new pitcher, relieving starter René Coss.
He faced Curt Smith, but the inning ended when he lined out to first baseman Francisco Rivera.
Tigres-starter Mainor Mora was replaced after six complete innings.
Fidencio Flores took over and retired the side in the seventh.
In the eighth, Junior Tellez became the new pitcher for the Nicaraguan squad.
He gave up two hits, but encountered no problems.
Samuel Gervacio closed the game for Tigres.
With two outs, the righthander gave up a single, but then, a flyout ended the game.
In the first game, Netherlands Team-players Yurendell de Caster and Dashenko Ricardo both collected three basehits.
Today, they were held hitless.
Curt Smith, who was 0-for-5 in the opener, was the lone Dutch player with a basehit today, as he batted 1-for-3.
(January 27)
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