BANGOR – Back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning gave Latin America some breathing room in Tuesday morning’s Senior League World Series matchup against U.S. Central. And thanks to those hits, some of the pressure is off the team from Maracaibo, Venezuela.

The Venezuelans also jumped on two errors by the Central team from Chicago and got a four-hitter from Eudondar Gonzalez for a 5-2 victory in the Pool B matchup.

Maracaibo evened its record in pool play to 1-1, while Chicago dropped to 0-2.

“We’ve got to try to stay alive, for our pride,” Chicago coach Bob Giller said. “There’s an outside chance we could be in it but the idea now is to go back with at least a .500 stretch.”

Chicago looked strong early with a run in the top of the first, but Maracaibo tied the game in the second when Carlos Salazar hit a leadoff single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Salazar moved to third on a flyout to center and scored on a wild pitch.

Maracaibo took a 3-1 lead in a two-run third inning thanks to a Victor Galue triple that plated Rober Gomez, who walked. Galue scored on another throwing error in the infield.

“That’s part of the game and today we were able to [score] the runs,” Maracaibo manager Gustavo Marcano said through an interpreter. “Yesterday I was embarrassed [because of errors in a 2-1 loss].”

Those runs made the difference as Chicago scored a run in the sixth, but one-out triples from Juan Gonzalez and Francisco Mendez in the fifth provided Maracaibo with a big boost.

“That was the big key to hit those triples in a row,” Marcano said. “After that the players get calm and play baseball like they’re used to.”

Mendez was facing an 0-2 count when he hit his triple to drive in Juan Gonzalez and Mendez came home on a sharply hit Galue single to left-center.

“There’s no way in the world that guy should have had a chance to hit that ball,” Giller said of Mendez’s triple.

Eudondar Gonzalez struck out four and walked three for the win. He limited Chicago to four hits and was helped out by fine infield defense.

“He threw a lot of changeups against the lefties and curveballs and fastballs against the righthanders,” Marcano said. “He [mixed up pitches] really good.”

Chicago’s first four spots in the batting order went a combined 1-for-11.

“If we can’t hit we can’t win,” Giller said. “We just hit nice balls to their people and they caught them. Their third basemen made some nice plays. We just never hit anything in the outfield.”

Both Chicago runs were unearned.

Chicago pitcher Steve Yopchick scored in the sixth. He was hit by a Gonzalez pitch and got to second on a Peter Sparacino single, advanced on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

LATIN AMERICA 5, U.S. CENTRAL 2

Chicago, Ill. (1-1) Venezuela (0-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Garcia, ss 4 1 1 0 Soto, rf 1 0 0

Melecio, lf 2 0 0 0 R. Gonzalez, rf-2b 3 0

Giller, c 3 0 0 0 Franco, 1b 0 0 0

Yopckick, p 2 1 0 1 Gomez, 1b 1 1 0

Sparacino, 3b 3 0 1 0 Gonzalez, 1b 1 0

Cotton, rf 1 0 0 0 Silva, 2b 2 0 0

O. Sanchez, rf 2 0 0 0 Mendez, rf 1 1

Davila, cf 2 0 0 0 Galue, cf 3 1 2

M. Sanchez, 2b 2 0 1 0 Salazar, lf 3 0

Perez, 1b 3 0 1 0 Prado, c 3 0 0

Urdaneta, 3b 3 0 0 0

Gonzalez, p 2 0 1 0

Rincon, ss 3 0 0 0

Totals 24 2 4 1 Totals 26 5 8 3

U.S. Central 100 001 0 ? 2

Latin America 012 020 x ? 5

E?Garcia, Sparacino; E. Gonzalez 2; LOB?U.S. Central 5, Latin America 5; 3B?J. Gonzalez, Mendez, Galue; SB?Davila; Salazar, E. Gonzalez 2

U.S. Central IP H R ER BB SO

Yopchick (L, 0-1) 6 8 5 3 2 1

Latin America IP H R ER BB SO

E. Gonzalez (W, 1-0) 7 4 2 0 3 4

HBP?Yopchick by E. Gonzalez; WP?Yopchick; E. Gonzalez; BK?E. Gonzalez; T?1:54; ATT?250