Panama's baseball team

Panama City, October 5 (PL) -- The Panamanian baseball team defeated Brazil by a score of 4-0 and won its berth for the World Baseball Classic in March 2023.

At the Rod Carew National Stadium, in the capital, Edwar Muñoz hit a home run in the seventh inning through left field with nobody on base that sentenced the challenge in favor of the Isthmians.

In this way, the Canal Islanders gained revenge after the South Americans defeated them 3-2 in the 2012 Classic qualifiers in the same scenario.

The starter from the province of Cocle, Ariel Jurado Jr, deserved the victory.

Other protagonists of the match were José Ramos, with a home run and Jonathan Araúz on base to give the Panamanians the lead, and the hit by Allen Córdoba, who scored the first three runs.

Both teams had come into the duel undefeated, as the Brazilians outscored New Zealand 12-7 on Thursday night and beat Nicaragua 4-1 on Saturday.

Panama beat Argentina last Saturday in seven innings with an 11-0 slate.

On Wednesday, Brazil will have to face Nicaragua, who beat Argentina 6-5 the day before, to define the second and last ticket to the Classic for this qualifying group.

The United Kingdom and the Czech Republic qualified in another qualifier played recently in Germany.

The top qualifier in Panama will complete Group C of the major tournament to be played in Phoenix, which is made up of the United States -the last champion-, Mexico, Colombia and Canada.

The runner-up will be in Group D in Miami in a group with Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Israel, according to the schedule.