(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Leones de León)
 Roger Bernadina and Jiandido Tromp trail with Leones in Nicaraguan Final
Nederlands
  RIVAS / LEÓN (Nicaragua) -
Leones de León, the team of Dutch players Roger Bernadina and Jiandido Tromp, lost the first two games of the best-of-seven Championship Final of the Liga de Beisbol Profesional Nacional (LBPN) in Nicaragua.
Later this year, Bernadina and Tromp will both play for Curaçao Neptunus in the Dutch big league.
Reigning champion Gigantes de Rivas won 5-1 on Saturday (January 22), then 4-2 on Sunday (January 23).
Game 3 will be played on Tuesday-evening in Rivas.
In the regular season, which opened on November 5, Tigres de Chinandega finished in first place with a 26-14 record, followed by Gigantes (25-15), Leones (20-20), Tren del Norte (15-25) and Indios del Bóer (14-26).
The regular season ended on January 5.
By finishing in fifth place, Bóer was eliminated for the next round in which the top-four met each other four times and opened on January 7.
This time, it was Gigantes that ended up in first place, winning eight of the twelve games it played in this round to qualify for the Championship Final.
Leones (6-6) finished second to become the second team to advance to the best-of-seven.
Tigres and Tren del Norte both were 5-7 in this second round (which closed on Friday) and were eliminated.
In the regular season, Roger Bernadina and Jiandido Tromp were amongst the most productive players of Leones.
Bernadina batted .288 (38-for-132) and was the fifth best hitter of Leones, Tromp finished with a .255 batting average (40-for-157).
With their 40 and 38 basehits, Tromp and Bernadina respectively finished in third and fourth place in their team.
But they ranked first and second by scoring 28 and 26 runs respectively.
Tromp also led the team in runs batted in (25), homeruns (7) and triples (3).
Bernadina batted in 19 runs and belted two homeruns.
In the second round, Bernadina batted .400 (16-for-40, second place) and Tromp batted .333 (15-for-45, third place).
Again, the two led the team in basehits and Tromp again had the most RBI's (8).
On December 20, both Bernadina and Tromp played in the Nicaraguan All Star Game, which was played between a team compiled on foreign players and a team compiled on national players.
In the team of foreign players, Bernadina started in leftfield and was 1-for-2, batted in two runs and walked once.
He was replaced by Tromp, who batted 0-for-2 and scored once.
Trailing 4-0, the Nacionales rallied for five runs in the third inning.
Halfway the seventh inning, the Extranjeros again led, this time 7-5.
The Nacionales then scored a run in the seventh and two more with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win 8-7.
In the regular season, Alay Rafael Lago Silva of Tren del Norte was the league's best hitter with a .422 average (73-for-173).
Alay Lago led in runs scored (41), basehits (73) and RBI's (40).
In the regular season and second round combined, Lago collected 95 basehits to set a new record and was named Most Valuable Player.
The Cuban infielder broke a 66-year old record, as Panamanian Manuel Antonio Díaz and Dominican Domingo Vargas both collected 94 basehits in the first professional season in Nicaragua in 1956.
A few hours after he had completed the season with Tren del Norte, Lago was added to the roster of Leones early on Saturday-morning, as was outfielder Willy Camilo García Archivol, who also had played for Tren del Norte.
Gigantes also added two foreign players for the Final: righthanded pitcher Pedro Arsenio Fernández Echavarría and infielder/outfielder Garabez Rosa Paniagua, who both played for Tigres de Chinandega in the 'normal' season.
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...Roger Bernadina & Jiandido Tromp....
(© Photos: Leones de León) |
Gigantes de Rivas opened the Championship Final on Saturday-evening with a 5-1 victory.
Playing at home in Estadio Yamil Ríos in Rivas, Gigantes rallied for four runs in the bottom of the third inning after the first two batters were eliminated.
The team then got the bases loaded when Anderson Feliz and Chris Roberson singled and Cheslor Cuthbert walked.
Hereafter, both Jesus Valdez and Garabez Rosa delivered a 2-run single.
Leones got one run back in the top of the fourth inning when Willy Garcia homered with one out, but Gigantes then scored again in the seventh.
Jiandido Tromp led off and was the leftfielder for Leones, hitting 2-for-4.
Bernadina batted third, was the centerfielder and batted 1-for-4.
Both flied out in the first inning.
With two outs in the third at bat, Tromp singled, but stranded on first base.
In the top of the sixth, Tromp led off and grounded out, then Alay Lago and Bernadina singled, which gave Leones runners at the corners.
However, a double play ended the at bat.
In the seventh, Tromp again singled with two outs, but was left behind once more.
In Game 2 on Sunday-evening, Leones, playing at home in Estadio Héroes y Mártores de Septiembre in León, took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and led 2-1 after five innings, but Gigantes then answered with three runs.
Tromp led off the first at bat for Leones with a single, but was forced out on a grounder by Alay Lago.
After Bernadina had flied out, Willy García homered to put the home-team ahead.
In the top of the second inning, Gigantes got one run back with one out on back-to-back doubles by Edgard Montiel and Wuillians Vasquez.
In the sixth, Gigantes took the lead via a 3-run rally and Vasquez again was involved.
With one out, the Venezuelan, who played in the Dutch big league for HCAW in 2010, doubled and scored the tying run when next batter Elmer Reyes also doubled.
With two outs, Reyes scored the go-ahead run on a single by Anderson Feliz.
After a pitching change, Chris Roberson delivered a runscoring single to make it a 4-2 score.
With his team now trailing, Bernadina led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a line drive double into left-centerfield.
With one out, the former Major Leaguer advanced to third base on a grounder, but then was left behind when the at ended with a strikeout.
Leones got two more chances to erase the deficit and to re-take the lead in the eighth and ninth inning.
In the eighth, Tromp led off with a walk, but was forced out again and hereafter, Bernadina struckout.
Willy García then walked, but a flyout ended the at bat.
In the ninth, Leones got the bases loaded with two outs.
WIth one out, an infield-hit by Darrel Campbell led to the first runner.
And with two outs, closer Carlos Contreras walked pinch-hitter Arnol Rizo and Tromp, which loaded the bases.
That brought Alay Lago, the league's Most Valuable Player, in the batter's box.
Moments later, the game ended with a disputable call.
On a 2-2 count, Contreras threw the ball in the ground and Lago appeared to have a check swing.
Home Plate Umpire Jaime Laguna pointed to 1B Umpire Wilfredo Montoya, who then ruled that Lago had made a swing, which made it strike-three.
Instead of the throwing the ball to first base to complete the out, catcher Luis Alen jumped on the plate to force out Campbell, the runner from third base.
And that ended the game!
Leones Manager Sandor Guido reacted furiously and went into a heated discussion with Laguna.
Guido, who played many international tournaments with the National Team of Nicaragua, was ejected.
Whether or not it was a swing, Lago indeed came close in moving his bat through the zone.
But as said, it was close.
(January 23)
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