Havana, August 22 (RHC) – The Sancti Spiritus Roosters are sitting at the top of the leaderboard of the Cuban National Baseball Series with 7 wins and 2 losses, and the team is especially motivated since two of their players may be achieving career milestones in the next series.

The Roosters will face the Isla de la Juventud Pirates in a 3-game series that starts this Thursday, and in which Frederich Cepeda might join the 300-Home Run club, as he only needs one round-tripper to do so. The other team veteran Yunier Mendoza, is 5 hits away from the 2000 mark, and if he has a good a series at the plate, he might be one of the few who have reached said mark in the Cuban baseball championship on its current format.

The Roosters are having their best season beginning in the last few years, after the arrival of their new manager, Jose Raul Delgado, and apart from being the best ranked team in the league, they show a hot streak of 3 wins in a row.

The Camaguey Bulls have also won three consecutive games and now they sit second in the league, only half a game behind Sancti Spiritus, with 6 wins and 2 losses. The Bulls expect their great offensive performance to continue as they visit the two-time National Champions Granma Sorrels.

Camaguey is one of the best offensive teams in the league, showing off a team average above the 300 line, led by Loidel Chapelli (440) and veteran infielder Alexander Ayala (409), and their offense might get even stronger in the next series, as former Tampa Bay Rays player Leslie Anderson has re-joined their roster.

The Cienfuegos Elephants are having a good start, winning 6 out of 9 games, and they will visit the Matanzas Crocodiles (3-5), after winning the series against the Industriales Lions 2-1. The Lions (4-4) will try to take advantage of the Guantanamo Indians, a team that has been having a rough season start, since they have won only one game so far.

The rest of the match-ups for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be Villa Clara Azucareros (6-3) vs Pinar del Rio Vegueros (5-4), Las Tunas Lumberjacks (5-4) vs Holguin Cubs (3-6), Santiago de Cuba Wasps (4-5) vs Ciego de Avila Tigers (4-5), and Mayabeque Tornadoes (3-6) vs Artemisa Hunters (3-6).

Individually, Industriales’ Lisban Correa gets all the standing ovations so far this season, after returning to Cuban baseball. Correa has collected 16 hits in 30 at bats, and shows a 533 Avg, two Home-Runs, 8 RBIs, 767 SLG and 662 OBP complete Correa’s statistics at the plate.