The Dominican Winter League Baseball Championship is entering its final week and things look bleak for the once high-flying Aguilas Cibaenas, as they lost yet again to the Leones del Escogido. During the regular season the Aguilas were perched atop the standings and the Escogido team needed a tremendous seven-game winning streak to get out of the cellar and into the top positions in the standings. Now it is the Aguilas who last night lost a one-run lead to the Leones, dropped further behind and now have a firm grip on the last place in the standings. After seven great innings behind the pitching of Raul Valdes, the Aguilas enjoyed a 1-0 lead going into the eighth inning. They brought in Jose Diaz who opened the door and the Leones manufactured a seven-run rally with a double by Pablo Ozuna, six singles, two bases on balls and two errors. Game over. The Leones stopped a three-game skid and stayed in first place and the Aguilas stayed in last place.

Over in San Francisco de Macoris, at the Julian Javier Stadium the Gigantes del Cibao received the visiting Tigres del Licey with more than open arms. In fact, if memory serves, this is the first game in a very long time where one team has hit four homeruns. Carlos Trunfel hit two, Anderson Hernandez and Wil Nieves hit another and the Tigres cruised to an 8-0 win, going over .500 for this section of the tournament for the first time. The Gigantes are now in third place.

Standings: <b>Team <b>Win-Loss <b>Average <b>Games behind LEONES 9 - 4 .692 -- TIGRES 7 - 6 .538 2.0 GIGANTES 5 - 7 .417 3.5 AGUILAS 4 - 8 .333 4.5
Tonight's game. This is a make-up game due to a rainout.
Santiago de los Caballeros, Estadio Cibao, 7:35pm. - Gigantes (E. Abreu) vs. Aguilas (J. Delgadillo)

Tomorrow night's games.
* Santo Domingo, Estadio Quisqueya, 7:35pm. - Gigantes (K. Pucetas) vs. Licey (E. Rogers)
* Santiago de los Caballeros, Estadio Cibao, 7:35pm. - Escogido (A. Rodriguez) vs. Aguilas (B. Browning)

For more on upcoming events, see www.dr1.com/calendar

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