Re: Winter/Fall/Latin/Asian/World Ball
68711/23/23
COLUMBIA
Vaqueros, a machine that produced home runs that led him to the title
by Manuel Ortega Ponce
Jan 22, 2023
Dayan Frias (SS - Hitting Second - Cartegena)
AB 4, R 0, H 1, RBI 0, BB 0, SO 0, AVG .318, OPS .929
It's official, Dayan is in a mini-slump during this playoff round saw his average drop nearly .70 points but still ended up with a respective average (.318) and OPS (.929).
Dayan flied out to left field F7 in the first inning, flied out to right center F8 in the third, grounded out second to first 4-3 in the fourth, and singled to right field in the seventh,
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Meibrys Viloria (C - Batting Third - Cartegena)
AB 3, R 1, H 1, RBI 0, BB 1, SO 0, AVG .262, OPS 1.036
Meibrys Viloria continues to get on base, an on base machine walked and was stranded at third in the first, grounded out second to first 4-3 in the third, grounded out second to first 4-3 in the sixth, and singled to right advanced to second on a fielding error (bases loaded) and scored on a base hit,
Vaqueros de Montería, with a devastating artillery and another notable performance on the mound by Dominican Porfirio López, beat Tigres de Cartagena 7-4, this Sunday in a packed June 18 stadium in the Cordoba capital and was crowned League champion Colombian Baseball Professional season 2022-2023.
The team from Montería took the series 4-1, winning the last three games of the final playoff at home. It is the second title that this franchise has achieved after the one obtained in the 2019-2020 season when it beat Gigantes de Barranquilla.
Vaqueros, who has been in the last four finals, will represent Colombia in the Caribbean Series that will take place in Caracas (Venezuela) from February 2 to 10, with the intention of revalidating for our country the title won the previous year by Caimanes .
In this Sunday's game, the strong Vaqueros offense was decisive in leading the team to victory and the title. Home runs by Carlos Herrera, Reinaldo Rodríguez, Andrés Angulo, Jordan Díaz and Pabel Manzanero made the difference in the game, added to a dominant pitching performance by Porfirio López during his seven innings, in which he allowed four hits and one run. The Dominican won two games in this series.
In total, in this final playoff, Vaqueros dispatched 11 homers, four of them from 'Chencho' Rodríguez, who was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the Series. The strong slugger from Cartagena drove in eight runs in the five games against Tigres.
Rodríguez led the way to victory for the Vaqueros with a solo shot in the first inning off Joel Inoa. In the third, it was the turn of Carlos Herrera, also against Inoa, to increase the lead to 2-0.
Tigres closed the difference in the fourth after a sacrifice fly by Jesús Marriaga that drove in Ronaldo Hernández, who reached base after being hit by a pitch.
At the bottom of that inning, the Vaqueros scored three more runs to make the score 5-1. Two of them were the product of a home run by Andrés Angulo, who found Daniel Vellojín on base. The other by Francisco Acuña who came in after an error by shortstop Adrián Sánchez.
Tigres returned to show signs of life after the departure of the Vaqueros starter, Porfirio López. His relief, Jhon Peluffo, got complicated by walking Jonathan Lozada and allowing singles by Meibrys Viloria and Jesús Marriaga. Their third baseman, Francisco Acuña, also contributed by committing an error on Ronaldo Hernández's ground ball. Marriaga's single drove in Lozada and Viloria to make it 5-3.
With two outs, Peluffo gave way to Francisco Carrillo, whom Óscar Mercado greeted with a single that brought Hernández to the plate with Tigres' fourth run to make it a 5-4 ball game, but then retired Víctor Nova with a flyout to left field to end the anguish.
In the bottom of the eighth, Vaqueros sealed the game with solo home runs by Jordan Díaz and Pabel Manzanero against Guillermo Zúñiga for the final 7-4.
In the ninth, Carrillo took out the pinch-hitting Roberto Cario, Jonathan Lozada and Harold Ramírez in one, two, three fashion to unleash the excitement in June 18 stadium.
Vaqueros, who finished second in the regular season, eliminated Caimanes in five games and in the final playoff they won a game in Cartagena and three at home, where they won their last 13 games.
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“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller
-- Bob Feller