Latin America sails past Belgium

loading...

BANGOR – The Paraguana Little League of Falcon, Venezuela, powered its way into the semifinals of the 2006 Senior League World Series with a performance most balanced Wednesday night during a 12-1 victory over Brussels, Belgium, that ended after six innings under the 10-run rule.

Pitchers Gabriel Pernalete, Dennys Osteicoechea and Marcos Pina combined on a three-hitter.

Freddy Galvis, Francisco Diaz, Eduardo Cuba and Rito Garcia had two hits apiece to pace an 11-hit attack.

And an infield defense led by Galvis at shortstop and Diaz at third base put on an errorless clinic as Falcon improved its record to 3-0 and clinched a berth in Friday’s semifinals.

Falcon and Bloomfield, N.J., the other undefeated Pool B team that clinched its semifinal berth earlier Wednesday, will meet at 1 p.m. today in the final round of pool play at Mansfield Stadium. The winner will be the pool’s top seed in the semifinals, while loser will be the second seed.

Friday’s semifinals have been rescheduled for 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Originally they were set for 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., but tournament director Mike Brooker said that because there were no other tournament-related activities slated for Friday evening, the games were pushed back to allow more fans the opportunity to see the tournament’s final four.

Pernalete earned the pitching win against Brussels, allowing three hits and one run over four innings while striking out six and walking three.

Osteicoechea and Pina each worked a scoreless inning of relief.

While Falcon put on a virtually flawless show, Brussels was beset by five wild pitches and six errors that played into three big Venezuelan rallies.

Brussels starter Masanori Nagashima had three wild pitches and a balk in the first inning, which along with two errors enabled Falcon to take a quick 4-0 lead.

Brussels, the EMEA (Europe-Middle East-Africa) champ that ended pool play with an 0-4 record, countered with its only run in the bottom of the first, as Nagashima walked, stole second and scored on two wild pitches by Pernalete.

Falcon broke the game open with a three run rally in the third. Diaz singled and moved to second on a groundout. Leonardo Rojas and Lesme Pena were both hit by pitches to load the bases before Garcia singled home Diaz and two more runs scored on Nagashima’s fourth and fifth wild pitches of the game.

A five-run rally in the top of the sixth enabled Falcon to put the 10-run rule into play. That uprising featured three more Brussels errors to go with four hits by the Latin America champions, including a two-run triple to left-center by Osmar Marillo, an RBI triple to straightaway center by Rojas and an RBI single to left by Garcia.

LATIN AMERICA 12, EMEA 1 (6 inn.)

Falcon, Venezuela (3-0) Brussels, Belgium (0-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Galvis, ss 4 2 2 0 Nagashima, p-cf 2 1 0

Pina, 2b-p 4 0 0 0 Oppenheim, lf-rf 2 0

Diaz, 3b 4 2 2 1 R. Conway, c 3 0 0

Cuba, c 4 2 2 0 H. Gerard, 1b 2 0 0

Rojas, 1b 3 3 1 1 R. Steege, ss 2 0 0

Pena, lf 2 2 1 0 King, 3b-p 3 0 0

Garcia, rf 4 1 2 1 Miller, cf-rf 2 0 0

Pernalete, p-cf 2 0 0 0 Lyke, 2b-p 2 0

Morillo, lf 2 0 1 2 V. Gerard, rf-p 1 0 0

Osteicoechea,cf-p 3 0 0 0 C. Conway, 2b-3b 0

Totals 32 12 11 5 Totals 20 1 3 0

Venezuela 403 005-12

Belgium 100 000- 1

E-H. Gerard 2, C. Conway 2, King, R. Conway; LOB-Venezuela 7, Belgium 5; 3B-Rojas, Morillo; DP-C. Conway-H. Gerard; SB-Nagashima

Venezuela IP H R ER BB SO

Pernalete 4 3 1 1 3 6

Osteicoechea 1 0 0 0 0 2

Pina 1 0 0 0 0 1

Belgium IP H R ER BB SO

Nagashima 3 5 7 4 1 5

Lyke 2 2/3 5 5 1 1 1

King 0 1 0 0 1 0

V. Gerard 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

HBP-Rojas (by Nagashima), Pena (by Nagashima); WP-Pernalete; Nagashima 5, Lyke; BK-Nagashima; PB-R. Conway; T-2:10; ATT-650