(Press release; WBSC-AMERICAS).- The teams of Costa Rica and the host Nicaragua, debuted in the Central American Baseball Championship with victories against El Salvador and Honduras respectively.
The event that takes place in Nicaragua, has five participants, but only the champion will advance to the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santiago, Chile, this teams play for that spot at the Soberanía stadium.
Costa Rica beat El Salvador 3-1 on the road in a tight pitching duel in which the Ticos coming out with the better part, overcoming an early deficit against the Salvadorans.
The Costa Rican team scored two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to erase the 1-0 deficit that they had been carrying since the first inning and thus reach their first win of the tournament.
Pablo Jackson won the game by throwing seven innings in which he gave up two hits, with one run received, allowing just two hits and five walks, in addition to striking out six. Christian López got the save by throwing two scoreless innings with a strikeout and two walks.
Offensively, Manuel Ascanio stood out, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Manrique Mora went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, Francis Soto also stood out, going 1-for-3 with an RBI.
On the other hand, the host team of Nicaragua was dominant against Honduras by prescribing a 7-0 shutout with combined work from the three pitchers.
Ronald Medrano led the way with six dominant innings in which he allowed just one hit, no walks and struck out thirteen opponents. Hebert Duque followed with two innings and to strikeouts and Goffrey Bennett also struck out all three of his opponents.
Offensively, Juan Montes stood out, going 1-1 with two runs scored and four walks. Elian Miranda also stood out when he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Cheslor Cuthbert drove in another two despite not getting a hit in three at bats.
(Media Management; WBSC-AMERICAS)
