Havana, April 24 (ACN)-- Tigres de Ciego de Avila and Leñadores de Las Tunas will go out this Wednesday in search of revenge for the defeats suffered the day before, which caused an escape by the Vegueros from Pinar del Río at the top of the National Series of Baseball.
The Tigres from Ciego de Avila fell 5-1 on Tuesday against the Wasps of Santiago de Cuba and need a win to equalize the particular duel and not move further from the top of the standings.
To achieve that goal, they will place Ediel Ponce on the mound, the most effective pitcher on their staff this season with an earned run average of just 1.80 in 25 innings pitched.
The rookie, who has a 3-1 record, will face the fast-ball pitcher Yosiel Serrano, another who has had an excellent campaign with two wins without losses.
For their part, the Las Tunas team, after being beaten by the Villa Clara Leopardos with a score of 15-3, designated Yoelkis Cruz Jr. to throw the streamers.
In other challenges, the leaders of Pinar del Río will seek their sixth consecutive victory and the second against the Gallos de Sancti Spiritus, after beating them 7-2 in the first confrontation.
The championship's batting leader, William Saavedra (5-2) continued to be overwhelmed with the bat by hitting a triple and driving in two runs to also reaffirm himself at the top of that section (38).
His other two fellow members of the trio of terror, Alexei Ramírez (5-3) and Yaser Julio González (5-2), scored one RBI each.
Santiago de Cuba settled in the qualifying zone by beating the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila 5-1 with success on the account of veteran Alberto Bisset, his 164th in the National Series.
The right-hander from Santiago only allowed one earned run in six innings and Yoel Yanqui went perfect 3 for 3, with a RBI.
The Villa Clara Leopardos connected 16 hits to defeat the Las Tunas Leñadores with a final score of 13-5, with Ronaldo Pérez (4-2) and Yuri Fernández (5-3) standing out.
For Las Tunas, Yosvani Alarcón went 3-for-4 with his seventh home run and three RBIs.
In other matches, Camagüey beat Cienfuegos 11-8 and took advantage of Granma's 3-1 defeat against Artemisa to move up to fourth place and Industriales beat Guantánamo 10-5 with home runs by Ángel Hechavarria, Roque Tomás and Alberto Calderón, the latter with bases full
Finally, Mayabeque led Holguín 7-0 with complete work by José Ignacio Bermúdez and a complete return hit by Jeison Martínez and La Isla de Matanzas with a score of 11-7.
After those results, Pinar expanded its advantage at the top with 24-9, followed by Las Tunas 17-11 and Ciego de Avila 20-13, in the first positions.
