Wildcats no match in semi-finals of Series Latino Americana
After the Wildcats debuted with a win, they lost the following two games as they could not cling to a lead twice. With a win and two losses, the team finished third and had to take on Tobis de Acayucan from Mexico in the semi-final. The Wildcats did not stand a chance as they fell to the Mexicans 9-3.
It wasn’t meant to be for Curaçao. After one inning, the Wildcats trailed by four runs already. Starting pitcher Cerilio Soleana didn’t survive the first inning and was replaced by Shairon Martis, the sole pitcher in WBC history that pitched a no-hitter.
In the second inning, the Wildcats got on the board Alexander Rodriguez got on base thanks to a single to left field, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third thanks to a sac fly by Johannes Gregorius (yes, the brother of…) and scored on a single by Dashenko Ricardo.
Two innings later the Wildcats reduced the Tobis de Acayucan’s lead to two runs when Yurendell de Caster scored from third (after he got a walk and advanced to third on a double hit by Alexander Rodriguez) on a failed pickoff move by the Mexican pitcher.
Until the sixth inning, the Wildcats could keep track with the Mexicans. The latter scored a run in the fifth and the Wildcats added one more in the top of the sixth. But then the pitching collapsed. Shairon Martis was tabbed for three runs and was replaced by Wendel Floranus. After the Tobis de Acayucan scored one more time in the seventh, it was a done deal. In the final three innings, the Wildcats only got one runner on base and never threatened to score more runs.
During first three games of the tournament Rojean Cleofa and Johannes Gregorius were the best hitters for the Wildcats with a .667 batting average. Diegomar Markwell earned the only win, despite giving up five runs and a 7.94 ERA.