(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
        WildCats Curaçao eliminated after loss on Day 7 Caribbean Series
Nederlands
  CARACAS / MACUTO, La Guaira State (Venezuela) -
Curaçao-champion WildCats KJ74 lost 6-2 to Tigres del Licey (Dominican Republic) on the final day of the round-robin of the 65th edition of the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Baseball Series) in Venezuela.
With this loss on Wednesday (October 8), Day 7 of the tournament, the Curaçao-team was eliminated for the Semi-Finals.
Federales de Chiriquí (Panama) closed the round-robin with a 10-4 win against Agricultores from Cuba.
In the late afternoon, Indios de Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) won 9-3 against round-robin leader Cañeros de Los Mochis (Mexico).
And in the evening, host Leones del Caracas (Venezuela) outscored Vaqueros de Montería (Colombia), 7-4.
Because of the loss, the Mexican champion ended up a tie for first place with the Venezuelan champion.
The Mexicans finished in first place based on the head-to-head result (a 7-0 win for Los Mochis).
Three teams then finished in a tie for third place: the representatives of Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
The ranking of these three teams also could be based on the head-to-head results.
Montería (Colombia) had won both against Licey (Dominican Republic) and Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) to end up in third place.
Licey finished in fourth place, as it had won its game against the Puerto Ricans, which therefore was eliminated.
Because of its loss today, WildCats finished in seventh place.
Final Standings Round-Robin:
1. Cañeros de Los Mochis, 2. Leones del Caracas, 3. Vaqueros de Montería, 4. Tigres del Licey, 5. Indios de Mayagüez, 6. Federales de Chiriquí, 7. WildCats KJ74, 8. Agricultores.
In the Semi-Finals on Thursday, Los Mochis will play against Licey and Caracas meets Montería.
The winners will play in the Final on Friday, the losers will play for third and fourth place.
WildCats trailed early against Tigres del Licey, came alongside, but then the Dominican champion struck in seventh inning.
The team then rallied for four runs to take a decisive lead.
Tigres del Licey is the most successful team in the Caribbean Series-history, as it has won the event ten times, but the last time was in 2008.
Licey opened the score in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Nestor Molina.
He gave up a lead-off double to Emilio Bonifacio, who advanced to third base on an one-out single by Yamaico Navarro and then scored when an error was made on a grounder by Henry Urrutia.
WildCats got into scoring position for the first time in the second inning off of starter Domingo Robles.
With one out, Wladimir Balentien singled and advanced on a wild pitch, but was left behind on second base.
After the Dominicans had left a runner behind on third base in the bottom of the third inning, WildCats came alongside in the top of the fourth.
Andrelton Simmons led off with a walk, moved on a grounder by Jonathan Schoop and scored when Sharlon Schoop followed with a single.
Balentien then grounded into an inning-ending double play.
...Wladimir Balentien had two basehits...
...On the photo, he plays for the Netherlands...
...in the 2022 Baseball Week Haarlem (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Curaçao got another scoring opportunity in the fifth inning.
Juremi Profar then led off with a single and with two outs, Darren Seferina walked, but both were left behind when Ray-Patrick Didder flied out.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Dominicans came close to re-taking the lead.
Gustavo Nuñez led off with a double and moved on a sacrifice bunt, but in the end, the team left runners behind on first and third base.
In the sixth and seventh inning, WildCats left a runner behind on first base off of new pitcher Williams Jerez.
Licey got another runner on third base in its sixth at bat off of Nestor Molina.
This time, he gave up a lead-off double to Mel Rojas Jr., then a single to Kelvin Gutiérrez.
A foul-fly and double play ended this threat.
But in the bottom of the seventh inning, Licey broke the 1-1 tie and struck with a 4-run rally to take a decisive lead.
With one out, Molina gave up a triple to Emilio Bonifacio, then a double to former Major Leaguer Robinson Canó to put the Dominicans ahead, 2-1.
Last year, the 40-year Canó played in the Majors for New York Mets (12 games), San Diego Padres (12 games) and Atlanta Braves (9 games).
He was released in early August and since then, he is a Free Agent.
With Canó's pinch-runner Ramon Torres on second base and first base open, Yamaico Navarro was walked intentionally.
Thereafter, Ryan Huntington took over the pitching, but he was greeted with a 3-run homerun by pinch-hitter Ramón Hernández.
And that lifted the lead to 5-1.
In the top of the eighth inning, off of new pitcher Fernando Abad, Jonathan Schoop doubled for WildCats with two outs, but his brother Sharlon Schoop then struckout.
Moments later, in the bottom of the eighth, Licey added another run off of new pitcher Kevin Kelly.
With one out, the righthander hit a batter and walked the next one, then gave up an RBI-single to Emilio Bonifacio.
Now trailing 6-1, Curaçao managed to score one more run in the top of the ninth off of closer Jauro Asencio.
Wladimir Balentien and Juremi Profar began with singles, which gave the team runners at the corners.
With one out, pinch-hitter Sicnarf Loopstok delivered a runscoring single.
Two runners were then left behind, as a strikeout and flyout ended the game.
WildCats collected seven basehits, including two by Wladimir Balentien and Juremi Profar.
(February 9)
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