The Pan Am/Baseball World Cup Qualifier continued on Saturday with the second day of the preliminary round. Team USA entered the competition with a 7-4 victory over host Puerto Rico. They scored four runs in the second and three in the sixth to decide the outcome. Brett Jackson and Todd Frazier hit three-run homeruns. Todd Redmond struck out four in 5 2/3 innings for the win. Jorge Padilla scored twice for Puerto Rico.
The first match of the Netherlands Antilles in the tourney against Cuba was rained out. In the other games Panama stunned the Dominican team with a 3-2 win. Colombia and Venezuela improved to 1-1 thanks to their first victories against Aruba respective Argentina. Canada won a rain-hindered marathon match against Nicaragua 7-6 thanks to a groundball by Pete Orr in the top of the ninth, which caromed off the Nicaraguan shortstop, allowing it Jonathan Malo (4-5) to score the game-winner. Jamie Romak homered twice in the game.
Results Day 2:
October 2:
Group A:
Aruba – Colombia 2-9
Dominican Republic – Panama 2-3
USA – Puerto Rico 7-4
Group B:
Argentina – Venezuela 0-4
Nicaragua – Canada 6-7
Cuba – Netherlands Antilles postponed
Schedule Day 3:
October 3:
1pm Colombia – Panama
1pm Canada – Venezuela
1pm Nicaragua – Netherlands Antilles
7.30pm USA – Aruba
7.30pm Puerto Rico – Dominican Republic
7.30pm Cuba – Argentina