The second round at the Pan Am/Baseball World Cup Qualifier in Puerto Rico is over and Team USA, Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic advance to the semi-finals. On Monday the highly anticipated matchup between the powerhouses Cuba and USA was headlined by a prospect of the Chicago Cubs.
Chris Archer (W 1-0) struck out ten batters in six scoreless two-hit innings to lead Team USA to a 4-1 victory. They took the lead in the third, when Mike Moustakas drove in Brian Barden and Mike Trout with a double. An error and a wild pitch made it 4-0 in the sixth. Cuba scored its lone run of the night with a RBI triple by Hector Olivera in the eighth. Frederich Cepeda went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Vladimir Garcia (L 0-1) took the loss, allowing seven hits, three runs and a walk in five-plus frames.
Venezuela pounded the Dominican Team 17-4 to clinch their spot in the semis. Five runs in the fourth and five in the ninth blew the game wide open. Javier Colina, Wilmer Alvarado and Franklin Tua went deep for the winner, Riccardo Nanita, Alexis Gomez and Victor Mendez homered for D.R. Panama closed out the second round with a 5-2 victory over Nicaragua. Carlos Munoz went 2-for-4 with a homerun, two runs scored and three RBI. Canada scored ten runs between the seventh and eighth to beat Puerto Rico 14-6. Jamie Romak (5 RBI), Adam Stern, Chris Robinson (5-6, 3 runs, 3 RBI) and Scott Thorman hit homeruns for the maple leafs.
Results, 2nd Round, Day 4:
Monday, October 11:
Dominican Republic – Venezuela 4-17
Panama – Nicaragua 5-2
Puerto Rico – Canada 6-14
USA – Cuba 4-1
Complete results, box scores available on BaseballdeCuba.com
Standings 2nd Round:
- USA 7-0
- Cuba 5-2
- Venezuela 4-3
- Dominican Republic 4-3
- Panama 3-4
- Canada 3-4
- Puerto Rico 2-5
- Nicaragua 0-7
Schedule Semi-Finals:
Tuesday, October 12:
- 2pm Cuba – Venezuela
- 7.30pm USA – Dominican Republic