(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
        Dominican champion Tigres del Licey wins Caribbean Series
Nederlands
  CARACAS / MACUTO, La Guaira State (Venezuela) -
Tigres del Licey is the winner of the 65th edition of the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Baseball Series), which was held this year in Venezuela.
In the Final on Friday-evening (February 10), the champion of the professional Winter League in the Dominican Republic recorded a 3-0 shutout against Venezuelan host Leones del Caracas.
It was the 22nd time that a team from the Dominican Republic won the Caribbean Baseball Series, extending its record.
After having won the event in 2012, the Dominicans had to wait some years, but then won again in 2020 (Toros del Este) and 2021 (Águilas Cibaeñas).
Last year, Dominican champion Gigantes del Cibao played in the Final, but then suffered a surprise 4-1 loss against Caimanes de Barranquilla from Colombia.
For Tigres del Licey, it was its eleventh title, but its first since 2008.
Licey holds the record with eleven titles.
In the round-robin of the tournament, Tigres del Licey finished in fourth place.
The team then met round-robin winner Cañeros de Los Mochis (Mexico) in the Semi-Final on Thursday.
The Dominicans won 8-3 to advance to the Final.
Leones del Caracas, which finished in second place, won 7-5 against Vaqueros de Montería (Colombia) in its Semi-Final.
On Friday-afternoon, Los Mochis nipped Montería 1-0 in the Bronze Medal-game to finish in first place.
For the first time, Curaçao was also represented in the Caribbean Baseball Series.
WildCats KJ74, which captured the title in the Curaçao AA League last November, finished in seventh place.
On Thursday-evening, fifteen players who participated with WildCats in the Caribbean Baseball Series were named to the roster of the Netherlands Team for the upcoming fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic.
In the game for third and fourth place, the Mexican champion scored the lone run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Kevin Andres Escorcia then came into the game as new pitcher for the Colombians, but he hit both the first and second batter he faced with a pitch, Irving Lopez and Roberto Valenzuela.
The reliever was then supported with a double play, but that also moved Lopez to third base.
Moments later, he scored on a single by Joey Terdoslavich.
And that was to be the lone run in the game.
In the Final, Tigres del Licey scored its runs in the second, fifth and ninth inning.
The Venezuelan opponent collected only three basehits.
All three were recorded off of starter Cesar Valdez, who threw 6 1/3 inning and struckout six batters.
Three relievers then held the team from Caracas hitless in the remainder of the game.
Licey opened the score in the second inning when Henry Urrutia led off with a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and then reached third base on a single by Mel Rojas, Jr..
Thereafter, Urrutia scored on a sacrifice fly by Kelvin Gutiérrez.
The lead was doubled in the fifth inning.
This time, Gustavo Nuñez led off with a single and moved to third base with one out when veteran Robinson Canó reached on an error.
Nuñez then scored on a following single by Yamaico Navarro.
Licey added its third run in the top of the ninth via an error with two outs.
Leones del Caracas got into scoring position only once in the game.
That was in the second inning when a runner was left behind on second base.
On Thursday-morning, at the Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas, three former players and a journalist from Venezuela were inducted into the Pabellón de la Fama de la Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series Hall of Fame).
Players Ramón Hernández, Robert Pérez and Luis Raven were then officially inducted, alongside journalist José Antero Núñez.
Catcher Hernández participated in eight Caribbean Series, infielder Pérez in nine and first baseman Raven in five.
Journalist Núñez wrote 20 books about baseball, including the history of the Caribbean Series.
(February 11)
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