This is the panorama of Latin American baseball

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Prior to the Pan American Games in Lima, Nicaragua was the most outstanding of the qualifiers, along with the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Canada and Argentina

The Leones de León, of Nicaragua, is the most dominant team in baseball in Latin America. The Central American team, which had already qualified in the Nicaraguan League, won the final of the Latin American Series to the holders of the Tobis of Veracruz, Mexico, with a score of 3-1, in a match that lasted until eleven innings and that represented the seventh victory for the 'felines' in the 2019 edition of the championship, as provided by La Prensa.

Leer en español: Así está el panorama del béisbol latinoamericano

In addition, and according to El Nuevo Diario, Keury de la Cruz was the key figure of the game to score the tie (1- 1) in the second inning, and then push the two races of the win with a double to the third baseman who missed at the bottom through left field in episode number eleven.

In this way, the Nicaraguan teams extend their hegemony in the aforementioned tournament that they have won in four of the seven editions of that series: Los Gigantes de Rivas, in 2016; Los Tigres de Chinandega, two championships (2017 and 2018) and now Los Leones (2019). Likewise, Sandor Guido, as a newcomer coach, won the Under-23 Championship with Leones, then the Professional League of Nicaragua and now the Latin American Series.

Who participated in this tournament?

In this event, champions of the professional winter leagues that make up the Latin American Professional Baseball Association participate. This year Argentina, Colombia, Curacao, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama will be part of the championship, according to the Spanish newspaper, Antena 2.

Colombia, with the Caimanes of Barranquilla, returned this year after being absent in the last edition and Argentina with Falcones de Córdoba, on the other hand, made its debut. Precisely during the meeting of these two teams was the only victory of Caimanes by a score of 5-4.

On the way to the Pan-American Games in Lima

The opaque presentation of the Colombians had as main argument the dispute, in Brazil, of the baseball eliminations to the XVIII Pan American Games of 2019 to be held in Lima, Peru, between July 26 and August 11, 2019. For this reason, it is said that Colombia, Nicaragua, and Panama participated in the Latin American series without some of their figures because they were with the commitment of their national teams, according to El Heraldo.

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Who was left with the gold medal?

In the eliminatory, Colombia remained with the second place of the championship. They defeated Panama and Canada in the group stage and Nicaragua in the semifinals. The Gold Medal went to the Dominican Republic that defeated Colombia in the final match with the convincing score of 17-4.

Colombia, Canada, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, according to El Heraldo, achieved their respective place in the baseball series of the Pan American Games in Lima. They joined Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Peru, which were already classified.

LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Diaz

Translated from "Así está el panorama del béisbol latinoamericano"