Pina, Diaz help Venezuela roll by U.S. Central

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BANGOR – The Paraguana Senior League team from Falcon, Venezuela, had already outscored its competitors 40-2 before winning the Latin American championship with a mercy-rule shortened game against historic baseball power Curacao.

But just how good was this group of teens from Falcon? Was this a legitimate offensive dynamo or just a good team that beat up on inferior competition?

The answer came quickly Sunday night as Paraguana wasted little time unleashing its potent offensive attack. This time, the victim was United States Central region champ Madison, Wis..

Madison’s players must have felt like Swiss cheese after enduring a 41/2-inning, 28-0 beating by Paraguana Sunday night in which each of Falcon’s starting players had at least one hit, one RBI, and one run scored by the third inning.

Paraguana will next play U.S. Southwest champion and fellow 1-0 team Tulsa, Okla., Tuesday at 1 p.m. Madison will take on the U.S. East champ Bloomfield, N.J., today at 1 p.m.

Second baseman Marcos Pina and third baseman Francisco Diaz led the 24-hit onslaught as each went 5-for-5.

“I was confident and patient. The team was very confident and that was the key… Confidence,” Pina said through an interpreter.

The game time temperature was much cooler than it has been in recent weeks, and much cooler than the Paraguana players were used to playing in, but the temperatures in the 50s didn’t cool off their bats any.

“I forgot about it. I was thinking about the game and we warmed up a lot by jumping and running,” said Pina. “We never stopped. We were always doing something because we knew the weather was an issue for us.”

It wasn’t much of an issue for him as Pina had a triple, a double, three singles, and three runs scored. Each of his hits scored a run.

Diaz had two triples, three singles, two RBIs and five runs scored.

It didn’t matter which Madison pitcher was throwing, or what they threw. The Venezuelans were hitting everything in the strike zone.

“Simply, we were just focused on every pitch and we were trying to hit the ball well,” Pina said. “We were not looking for any certain pitch.”

Starting pitcher Adalberto Ruiz was the beneficiary of his team’s prolific offense as he pitched three innings of one-hit ball. He struck out five batters and walked one with 45 pitches to remain unbeaten and earn his sixth win of the postseason.

Falcon sent 10 batters to the plate in the first while taking a 6-0 lead, but broke things open with 14 runs on 11 hits in a second inning marathon in which two Madison pitchers faced 18 batters and threw 47 pitches.

Catcher Eduardo Cuba went 4-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, a single, a walk, and four RBIs.

Madison’s only hit came via infielder Ross Elliott’s single to shallow right in the second.

LATIN AMERICA 28, U.S. CENTRAL 0

(Sunday Night, 5 inn.)

Madison, Wis. (0-1) Falcon, Venezuela (1-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Zadra, cf-1b 2 0 0 0 Galvis, ss-cf 5 1 2

Marvin, lf 2 0 0 0 Perozo, cf 3 3 2

Scharnke, lf 0 0 0 0 Diaz, 3b 5 5 2

Schmidt, 3b-ss 2 0 0 0 Cuba, c 4 5 4

Elliott, 1b-3b 2 0 1 0 Rojas, 1b 5 1

Graham, ss-p 2 0 0 0 Pena, lf 4 3 2

Wied, rf-3b 1 0 0 0 Pina, 2b 5 3 5

Bower, p 0 0 0 0 Ruiz, p 3 3 1 2

Ales, p-ss 0 0 0 0 Sanchez, p 1 0 0

Pecosky, rf 1 0 0 0 Osteicoechea, rf 1 3

Dunse, c 2 0 0 0 Garcia, rf 2 1 1

Klinkner, 2b 2 0 0 0

Totals 16 0 1 0 Totals 38 28 24 24

Wisconsin 000 00 – 0

Paraguana 6(14)6 2x – 28

E-Marvin 2, Ales; Diaz; LOB-Wisconsin 2, Venezuela 4; 2B-Cuba 2, Pena, Pina, Osteicoechea, Garcia; 3B-Diaz 2, Pina, Cuba; SF-Osteicoechea; SB-Graham

Wisconsin IP H R ER BB SO

Ales (L,0-1) 1 2/3 14 19 11 3 1

Graham 1 1/3 7 7 4 0 0

Bower 1 3 2 2 0 1

Venezuela IP H R ER BB SO

Ruiz (W,1-0) 3 1 0 0 1 5

Sanchez 1 0 0 0 1 0

Mora 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP-Pena by Ales; WP-Ales 3; T-1:39; ATT-400 (est.)