NewsWhore
12-19-2011, 03:00 PM
Over the weekend the teams at the bottom of the standings were fighting for the all-important fourth rung, the cut-off point for the Round-Robin stage of the tournament. The teams in fifth and sixth spot pack up and wait until next season.
As the weekend began, the Aguilas and Licey were definitely in the playoffs, the Toros del Este were almost guaranteed a spot and the Leones del Escogido were surging up the standings, winning seven games in a row to grab a tenuous hold on that fourth spot.
On Friday night the Leones and the Aguilas played in the Quisqueya Stadium in Santo Domingo and the Leones staged a come-from-behind victory, 6-5, to get a 1?-game lead over the Gigantes del Cibao in the fight for fourth place. Pablo Ozuna was one of the heroes for the Leones, together with Brayan Pena. Ozuna drove in three runs in a 5-2 outing.
In San Pedro de Macoris, the Estrellas Orientales stayed alive with a 2-1 victory over the Tigres del Licey. Josh Stevens threw six very good innings for the Estrellas and Alex Valdez, Dusty Brown, Mat Gamel, Argenis Reyes and Edward Rogers combined hits, and sacrifice fly balls to bring two runs home in the fifth inning. The victory keeps the Estrellas' chances for classification alive.
In San Francisco de Macoris, the Gigantes del Cibao defeated the visiting Toros del Este 8-2, to keep pace in the struggle for that fourth spot. Jimmy Paredes. Brad Nelson, Pedro Feliz and Robinzon Diaz led the way for the Gigantes, with John Halama doing the pitching.
On Saturday night, Escogido reduced its magic number to 2, as they defeated the Gigantes, their closest rivals, 3-0, once more behind the bat of Pablo Ozuna who supported the debut pitching of Nelson Figueroa who pitched eight innings of shutout baseball. Figueroa allowed just two hits and a walk as he struck out six. Perhaps the best pitching performance of the season, so far.
In La Romana, the Tigres del Licey and the Toros del Este fought it out. The Tigres won 5-0 behind the hitting of Juan Francisco, Engel Beltre, Jordany Valdespin and Anderson Hernandez who jumped on the Toros' pitching in the fourth and fifth innings. Esmil Rodgers did most of the pitching for the Tigres.
And in the Estadio Cibao, the Estrellas Orientales broke a nine-game losing streak against the Aguilas and took a 2-1 victory back home to San Pedro de Macoris. The game was not settled until the 11th inning as a pitching duel between Lorenzo Barcelo (eight innings, one hit, 10 Ks) and Manauris Baez (six innings, four hits, one run) developed with the Aguilas taking a 1-0 lead into the 9th inning. But a base on balls, a sacrifice, a throwing error and a double play all allowed the Estrellas to tie the game in the ninth inning. Then in the eleventh Eugenio Velez hit a tremendous homerun to decide the game. For the Aguilas, Joaquin Arias continued his torrid batting streak, driving in the lone run for the home team.
On Sunday, the Estrellas lost, 5-2, to the Gigantes del Cibao and were eliminated from the second series of the championship. Once again for the Gigantes the bats of Wilson Valdez, Erick Almonte and Jimmy Paredes did most of the damage to the Estrellas' starting pitcher Rafael Rodriguez, scoring five runs in the first two innings. Lenny DiNardo pitched 5 and 2/3 innings to keep the Gigantes safe.
The Toros del Este went to Santo Domingo to play the Leones del Escogido, and were defeated 6-2 by the home team, with Julio Bobon and Starling Marte doing most of the damage with two RBIs each. All of the scoring was done in the sixth inning with the Toros getting two runs and then the Leones came back with a big six-run rally in the bottom half of the inning.
And in Santiago, as play-off fever starts to be felt in the Cibao, the Aguilas received their bitter enemies, the Tigres del Licey in a game played before a packed stadium. Unfortunately for the Aguilas, the Tigres unleashed a 12-hit attack and the pitching of Francisley Bueno and Maikel Cleto did not allow any of the Aguilas to reach home plate.
The standings for the tournament are: <b>Team <b>Win-Loss <b>Average <b>Games behind AGUILAS 29 - 19 .604 -- TIGRES 26 - 21 .553 2.5 LEONES 24 - 24 .500 5.0 TOROS 23 - 25 .479 7.5 GIGANTES 21 - 28 .447 7.5 ESTRELLAS 20 - 28 .417 9.0
Today's game:
* Julian Javier Ball Park, San Francisco de Macoris: Tigres vs. Gigantes at 7:35pm.
For the 2011-2012 baseball game schedule, see www.lidom.com.do (http://www.lidom.com.do)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
As the weekend began, the Aguilas and Licey were definitely in the playoffs, the Toros del Este were almost guaranteed a spot and the Leones del Escogido were surging up the standings, winning seven games in a row to grab a tenuous hold on that fourth spot.
On Friday night the Leones and the Aguilas played in the Quisqueya Stadium in Santo Domingo and the Leones staged a come-from-behind victory, 6-5, to get a 1?-game lead over the Gigantes del Cibao in the fight for fourth place. Pablo Ozuna was one of the heroes for the Leones, together with Brayan Pena. Ozuna drove in three runs in a 5-2 outing.
In San Pedro de Macoris, the Estrellas Orientales stayed alive with a 2-1 victory over the Tigres del Licey. Josh Stevens threw six very good innings for the Estrellas and Alex Valdez, Dusty Brown, Mat Gamel, Argenis Reyes and Edward Rogers combined hits, and sacrifice fly balls to bring two runs home in the fifth inning. The victory keeps the Estrellas' chances for classification alive.
In San Francisco de Macoris, the Gigantes del Cibao defeated the visiting Toros del Este 8-2, to keep pace in the struggle for that fourth spot. Jimmy Paredes. Brad Nelson, Pedro Feliz and Robinzon Diaz led the way for the Gigantes, with John Halama doing the pitching.
On Saturday night, Escogido reduced its magic number to 2, as they defeated the Gigantes, their closest rivals, 3-0, once more behind the bat of Pablo Ozuna who supported the debut pitching of Nelson Figueroa who pitched eight innings of shutout baseball. Figueroa allowed just two hits and a walk as he struck out six. Perhaps the best pitching performance of the season, so far.
In La Romana, the Tigres del Licey and the Toros del Este fought it out. The Tigres won 5-0 behind the hitting of Juan Francisco, Engel Beltre, Jordany Valdespin and Anderson Hernandez who jumped on the Toros' pitching in the fourth and fifth innings. Esmil Rodgers did most of the pitching for the Tigres.
And in the Estadio Cibao, the Estrellas Orientales broke a nine-game losing streak against the Aguilas and took a 2-1 victory back home to San Pedro de Macoris. The game was not settled until the 11th inning as a pitching duel between Lorenzo Barcelo (eight innings, one hit, 10 Ks) and Manauris Baez (six innings, four hits, one run) developed with the Aguilas taking a 1-0 lead into the 9th inning. But a base on balls, a sacrifice, a throwing error and a double play all allowed the Estrellas to tie the game in the ninth inning. Then in the eleventh Eugenio Velez hit a tremendous homerun to decide the game. For the Aguilas, Joaquin Arias continued his torrid batting streak, driving in the lone run for the home team.
On Sunday, the Estrellas lost, 5-2, to the Gigantes del Cibao and were eliminated from the second series of the championship. Once again for the Gigantes the bats of Wilson Valdez, Erick Almonte and Jimmy Paredes did most of the damage to the Estrellas' starting pitcher Rafael Rodriguez, scoring five runs in the first two innings. Lenny DiNardo pitched 5 and 2/3 innings to keep the Gigantes safe.
The Toros del Este went to Santo Domingo to play the Leones del Escogido, and were defeated 6-2 by the home team, with Julio Bobon and Starling Marte doing most of the damage with two RBIs each. All of the scoring was done in the sixth inning with the Toros getting two runs and then the Leones came back with a big six-run rally in the bottom half of the inning.
And in Santiago, as play-off fever starts to be felt in the Cibao, the Aguilas received their bitter enemies, the Tigres del Licey in a game played before a packed stadium. Unfortunately for the Aguilas, the Tigres unleashed a 12-hit attack and the pitching of Francisley Bueno and Maikel Cleto did not allow any of the Aguilas to reach home plate.
The standings for the tournament are: <b>Team <b>Win-Loss <b>Average <b>Games behind AGUILAS 29 - 19 .604 -- TIGRES 26 - 21 .553 2.5 LEONES 24 - 24 .500 5.0 TOROS 23 - 25 .479 7.5 GIGANTES 21 - 28 .447 7.5 ESTRELLAS 20 - 28 .417 9.0
Today's game:
* Julian Javier Ball Park, San Francisco de Macoris: Tigres vs. Gigantes at 7:35pm.
For the 2011-2012 baseball game schedule, see www.lidom.com.do (http://www.lidom.com.do)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)