U-15 World Baseball Championship

Valencia, June 9 (JIT) - In a game in which both teams did not show their best staff cards, as they are likely to meet again on Friday in the semifinals, the Cuba team left Panama on the field and finished the regular phase of the U-15 Baseball World Baseball Tournament with a balance of four wins and one setback.

The Cubans reached their last chance with one run down on the scoreboard, but with two outs and men on third and second, the Panamanian mentor gave Alejandro Prieto an intentional ticket to work one of the leaders in bases on balls of the tournament, starter Roberto Peña.

Peña continued to show his ability to discriminate pitching, and with his eighth transfer, the game was tied. The winning run (13x12) also came on a walk to Yohan Rodriguez.

Island mentor Luis Góngora made adjustments in the line up for the next game that will decide which medal the qualified teams will go for.

Panama took a three-run lead in the opening inning, but the Cubans scored six runs in the third inning, when they hit an equal number of hits, two of them by first baseman Sergian Pérez and a triple by Roberto Peña.

That was the beginning of a dame que te doy, which the Canaleros followed with six runs also in the upper part of the fourth inning, when the morning clouds could not contain a sun that punished in this city of the state of Carabobo more than the bats of the two teams. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Cuba showed again that its offense is improving as the tournament progresses, and with five runs they regained the lead.

Maikol Rodriguez opened the inning with a triple, captain Alejandro Prieto drove him in with a rocket, and Pedro Danguillecourt and Duniesky Ferran completed the cluster with two hits each.

But it was a game of cachumbambé. With three tickets and a jit, the Panamanians scored three runs in the fifth segment and the scene was set for the sensational epilogue.

The second in the Cuban lineup, Maikol Rodríguez, was the best hitter against the Isthmians with four hits in five trips to the plate, including a double and a triple. 

The leadoff hitter Alejandro Cruz, among the top five in batting average of the competition, hit 5-2 and compiled .526, the result of ten hits in 19 at-bats.

Cuba and Panama concluded their performances in the preliminary phase, as this Thursday is their rest day. The Panamanians were left with two losses.

In Wednesday's other game, Colombia defeated the Dominican Republic 12x8, a result that adds tension to Thursday's duel against the hosts, as the winner will get the last berth to the world championship.

The Dominicans, the last to reach the event, were the first to say goodbye after accumulating four consecutive defeats without having achieved any success yet.