(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Four grand slams in Opening Weekend Spanish Baseball League
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      BARCELONA / BURLADA / GAVÁ / MADRID / PUERTO DE LA CRUZ / VALENCIA (Spain) -
On Saturday (April 10), the first nine games were played in the new regular baseball-season in Spain, which is one of the first European countries to open the 2021 season.
Three more games were played on Sunday.
This season, most teams will play 9-inning double-headers on Saturdays with both teams playing a home and an away-game.
Twelve teams play in the highest Spanish league.
Astros Valencia, Miralbueno Zaragoza, Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz, Toros and Viladecans all won both of their games.
In the Opening Weekend, four grand slam homeruns were hit in the Spanish Baseball League, which this season is the new name of the Liga Nacional División de Honor.
In total, 33 homeruns were hit in the twelve games played, seven of them hit by Marlins.
Reigning champion Astros Valencia opened at home with two mercy-rule victories against Antorcha Valencia on Saturday.
Astros won the first game of their double-header at its home-site Camp Rio Turia with a 12-2 score in eight innings.
In the second game, Astros needed only seven innings to win 16-3.p>
In the opening game, Astros initially faced a 2-0 deficit in the first inning, but then turned the game around with a 5-run rally in the fourth inning.
The team added four more runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.
The seventh at bat was highlighted by a 3-run homerun by Roibert Orlando Decena Pineda, who also doubled and tripled, but missed a single to hit for-the-cycle.
In the eighth inning, Decena delivered a walk-off triple, which ended the game, as a 10-run difference was reached.
In the second game, Astros collected 17 basehits, including homeruns by Edison Damian Valerio Abreu and Michel Rodriguez López.
Alex Alfonso Garrote homered for Antorcha.
...Jesús Ustariz playing for Spain during the...
...2019 Olympic Qualifier in Bologna (Italy)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Also on Saturday, Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz recorded two comfortable victories against San Inazio Bilbao Bizkaia.
Playing at Campo Nestor Pérez in Puerto de la Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife, Marlins won 12-4 in the opening game, then added a big 22-1 victory in six innings in the second game.
In the opening game, Marlins recorded 15 basehits and both teams hit four homeruns.
Jhonny Angel Bethencourt Acosta, Gabriel Eloy Lino Correa, Richard Humberto Montiel Siritt and Jesús Alberto Ustariz Luis homered for Marlins, while Kreisber Alexander Auciello Parras, Leopoldo Alberto Correa Herrera, Daniel Moreno Calero and Josberth José Ponte homered for Bilbao.
Winning pitcher Antonio Noguera Rodríguez struckout eight batters in seven innings.
In the second game, Marlins collected 16 basehits, including three homeruns.
Bilbao was limited to only three basehits.
Bethencourt again homered for Marlins and batted in six runs.
José Manuel Meléndez Vásquez hit a grand slam homerun in the sixth inning when Marlins rallied for seven runs.
17-year old Ricardo Arturo Mendoza Schiappacasse also homered.
Marlins also rallied for six runs in the first inning.
National Team-first baseman Jesús Alberto Ustariz Luis scored five runs for Marlins.
Miralbueno Zaragoza won its double-header against Rivas Vaciamadrid on Saturday.
At Camp de Béisbol Polideportivo Cerro del Telégrafo in Spanish capital Madrid, Zaragoza nipped Rivas 9-8 in the opener, then recorded a bigger 20-12 win in the second game.
In the first game, Rivas erased a 5-3 deficit in the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring four runs when Jonathan Raimundo Serfatty Gonzalez hit a grand slam.
The team added a run in the seventh to lift the lead to 8-5, but in the top of the eighth, Zaragoza came alongside and scored the winning run in the ninth.
Maximo Estrada Luis hit a 3-run homerun for Rivas in the first inning.
Short stop Jass Daniel Vargas Balmaceda homered twice for Zaragoza.
He hit a 2-run homerun in the fourth, then hit a 3-run homerun in the eighth, which equaled the score.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Robert Gabriel Guzman Jimenez doubled for Zaragoza, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a single by Roberto Camejo Fernández to score what would be the deciding run.
In the second game, Zaragoza trailed 5-1 when it rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The team added two runs in the sixth and scored five more in the seventh.
Both teams scored four runs in the eighth at bat.
Zaragoza collected 22 basehits, including four by Ruben Gregorio Vernal Torres and two homeruns by Moisés Grance Herrera, one of them a grand slam in the fifth inning.
Grance batted in six runs.
Rivas got 15 basehits, including four homeruns.
Two of them were hit by Lionel Alejandro Hernández Kerchman.
Jesus Enrique Castillo Novais and Frederman José Lopez Arteaga also homered for Rivas.
Béisbol Navarra and Sant Boi split their double-header on Saturday at Instalaciones Deportivas Municipales El Soto in Burlada, the home-site of Navarra.
Sant Boi won the opener with an 11-7 score, Navarra then won the second game, 12-6.
In the first game, Victor José Lopez Navarro contributed to Sant Boi's victory with a 3-run homerun and batted in four runs.
David Arza Gutierrez and Victor Enmanuel Reyes Correa homered for Navarra.
The second game was five innings scoreless, then Sant Boi scored twice in the sixth on a homerun by Edgar Rodriguez Galdon.
The most runs were then scored in the final two at bats.
Trailing 2-0, Navarra scored five runs in the top of the eighth, then rallied for seven more runs in the ninth.
Now trailing 12-2, Sant Boi scored four runs in its ninth at bat when Victor José Lopez Navarro hit a grand slam, but the team ended up empty-handed.
Hector Escolano Escolano homered for Navarra.
...Jorge Balboa pitching for Spain...
...in 2014 during the...
...European Championship...
...in Ostrava (Czech Rep.)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Gavá and Viladecans played their games on Saturday and Sunday.
Both games were played at Camp Municipal de Béisbol Can Torelló, the home-site of Gavá.
On Saturday, the visiting Viladecans won 17-7 in seven innings.
On Sunday, Viladecans was the home-team and recorded another mercy-rule win with a 16-5 score in 6½ inning.
In the first game, Gavá led 4-3 after the first inning, but Viladecans then scored for four runs in the second at bat.
In the third inning, the team added a 7-run rally on only one basehit, but also three errors.
Viladecans went on to record a convincing victory on only nine basehits.
Five errors of the Gavá-defense contributed.
Sterlin Manauri Cuevas Trinidad homered for Gavá.
Winning pitcher Jorge Balboa Miguel struckout eight batters and gave up only two basehits in the five innings he pitched.
The veteran righthander also pitches for the Spanish National Team.
In the second game, Viladecans led 5-4 after four innings, then added two runs in the fifth.
The team then staged a 9-run rally in the bottom of the sixth on three hits.
Four of the first five batters in the sixth walked, then Miguel Catalan Vizuete hit a 2-run double.
A hit batter and another basesloaded walk led to two more runs.
Javier Monzon Hernandez contributed with a 3-run double.
Maddiel Perez Perez homered for Viladecans in the first inning.
...Félix Cano as Coach of...
...Spain with Silver Medal...
...after the Final of the 2016...
...European Championship...
...in Hoofddorp (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Wellknown former National Team-pitcher and first baseman Félix Manuel Cano Ridruejo is one of the coaches of Viladecans.
In his playing-days, Cano was a powerhitter and a strong pitcher.
He played the for the Spanish Team in six European Championships, as well as in the 1992 Olympic Games, which was played on home-soil in his home-town Barcelona.
Cano, who is a club-icon and turns 56 later this month, is also one of the coaches of the current National Team of Spain.
Barcelona and Toros played a double-header on Sunday and were the lone teams that hit no homeruns in the Opening Weekend.
The games were played at Barcelona's home-site Camp Municipal de Béisbol Carlos Pérez de Rozas on Montjuďc mountain.
This was also the site of the Olympic baseball-tournament in 1992 and also was one of the locations for the 2007 European Championship/Olympic Qualifier.
Toros recorded a 3-0 shutout-win in the opener.
Winning pitcher Elvis Daniel Gomez Perez struckout eight batters and gave up only two basehits in seven innings.
In the second game, Toros nipped Barcelona, 4-3.
Barcelona scored runs in the first, fourth and fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Toros then scored its first run in the sixth, but turned the game around in the bottom of the eighth.
16-year old Barcelona-starter Peter Bonilla Hernandez dominated and struckout twelve batters, while giving up only four hits in seven innings.
With Barcelona leading 3-1, Ruben Leandro Gonzalez Alburquerque took over in the eighth, but he ran into problems.
With two outs, he walked three batters, then gave up a run after walking another batter.
With the bases still loaded, Jesus Juvenal Gabriel Da Silva Romero took over the pitching, but gave up a 2-run double to Hachel Gregorio Perez Alcantara.
(April 13)
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