Nicaragua and Puerto Rico will collect all the attention today with the first "play ball" of the Super Round, whose schedule arouses expectation in the final stages of the U18 Pan American Baseball Championship.

La Paz, Mexico, November 10 (PL)-- Nicaragua and Puerto Rico will get all the attention today with the first "play ball" of the Super Round, whose schedule arouses expectation in the final stages of the U18 Pan American Baseball Championship.

The moment of truth has arrived and the stakes are high: four tickets to the World Cup of the category in 2023 and the longed-for presence on the awards podium of the competition organized in several cities of Baja California Sur.

The Pinolera squad, with a 0-2 record, qualified in extremis after surprisingly beating Cuba in Group A, while the Puerto Ricans (0-2) also finished third in the B key.

Regarding the match, Central American manager Stanley Loáisiga said: "Our idea is to go little by little. We managed to advance among great teams and now we have another stage that will have athletes with great potential.

Speaking exclusively to Prensa Latina, Loaisiga stressed the importance of humility, working every day and recognizing the virtues of the opponents: "They are all very competitive teams and deserve respect near or far from the field.

Completing Thursday's program are the Panama-United States matches, leaders of the qualifying divisions, and Venezuela-Mexico on the synthetic turf of the Arturo C. Nahl Stadium in this city.

Meanwhile, Canada and Peru will play against each other at the Leonardo Gastelum Park in Cabo San Lucas, in the start of the consolation round, after both of them said goodbye to the prize competition. Cuba rests and will see action on Friday and Saturday.

From the individual point of view, Canada's Sam Shaw leads the average, ahead of his compatriot Jorge Valdes (.500), Nicaragua's Melvin Perez (.500), Venezuela's Luis Eduardo Meza (.500) and Cuba's Samuel Marti (.500).

In the case of clean runs, several pitchers maintain their averages without cracks (0.00), although Oscar Eduardo Soria (Mexico), Dario Sarduy (Cuba), Carlos Javier Diaz (Panama), Ford Thompson (United States) and Redinson David Gomez (Venezuela) stand out for the number of innings.

History shows that Cuba is the top winner, with eight titles -seven consecutive from 1997 to 2007- and two runner-up finishes, while the United States (five-three-four) and Mexico (one-one-one) are the remaining winners of the competition founded in 1995.

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Schedule:

Arturo C. Nahl Stadium:

Panama-United States (11:00, local time).

Nicaragua-Puerto Rico (13:00)

Venezuela-Mexico (20:00)

Leonardo Gastelum Stadium

Canada-Peru (16:00)