[NYTr] Cuba Heads to World Baseball Tournament Finals

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


Cuba Passed to World Baseball Tournament Finals

Havana, Aug 9 (acn) Cuban Alberto Bicet became the first pitcher to win 
two games in the 11th World Port Baseball Tournament on Wednesday 
leading undefeated Cuba to an 8-1 win over Japan. With the win Cuba 
clinched a ticket to Sunday's finals.

Alfredo Despaigne, who leads all tournament hitters, and Yosvani 
Peraza, who drove in three more runs, continued to carry the big stick 
for the Cuban offense, reported Granma newspaper.

Bicet, a right-hander from Santiago de Cuba, allowed only three hits in 
seven innings, striking out six and issuing two walks. Yolexis Ulacia 
came on to pitch in the eighth and lasted two outs into the ninth 
before Ciro Silvino Licea got the game's final batter on a strikeout.

Offensively for Cuba, Peraza had two singles in four at-bats, driving 
in three runs to raise his tournament total to 14. Meanwhile, Alfredo 
Despaigne went 2-for-3 and his average soared to .588. Jose Julio Ruiz 
smashed his third homer to tie Despaigne and Pedro Alvarez of the US 
team. Reutilio Hurtado went 2-for-3 with one RBI.

After six games of round robin play, the Cubans managed by Victor Mesa 
lead in hitting (.345 average); home runs (9); ERA (1.71), and 
strikeouts (51). The defense has only committed five errors for a .981 
average.

In the second game played on Wednesday, Holland blanked Chinese Taipei 
4-0 on the excellent pitching of Leon Boyd, who went the route giving 
up only three hits, striking out five without a walk. Raily Legito and 
Sydney de Jong both were 2-for-4 to lead the Dutch attack.

The tournament standings are as follows: Cuba 6-0; the US and Holland 
3-2; Chinese Taipei 2-4 and Japan 0-6. Thursday is a rest day for Cuba 
while Taipei plays Japan and the US meets Holland, which could decide 
who plays Cuba in the finals.