A duel between felines will begin today in the III edition of the Elite League of Cuban Baseball, when Tigres de Ciego de Avila welcomes Leones de Industriales to its José Ramón Cepero Stadium.
In the four-game duel, which will mark the halfway point of the qualifying schedule, the Avileños will try to stay alone in the overall standings, taking advantage of the absence of Leñadores de Las Tunas.
The Easterners, reigning national champions, will take a break from the selective tournament to represent Cuba next week in the second Champions League, to be held in Mexico.
On the mound for this first game will be left-hander Ariel Zerquera, who is co-leader in wins with three and has allowed eight clean sheets in 18 innings and two thirds of work.
Right-hander Pavel Hernandez, with a 1-1 record, will pitch the serpentines for the capital, after a season’s work of 18 chapters, in which he scored seven runs, struck out 15 opponents and only gave away a couple of tickets.
Ciego’s pitchers are the most effective in the championship with 3.99 clean runs allowed per complete game and Havana’s hitters have the highest offensive average, with .325, so the match promises great emotions.
In the other game scheduled for Friday, Avispas de Santiago de Cuba, away at Capitán San Luis, will face Vegueros de Pinar del Río.
The Indomitos have shown a fierce offence, being second in batting (.314) and first in home runs (23) and runs scored (120), although they are last in pitching (6.83 pcl).
Although the Westerners lag behind in defence (.961 avg) and are poor with the wood (.261 avg), their pitchers are second in effectiveness (4.11 pcl), as well as growing when they play in their own backyard.
For today, the hosts have announced left-hander Geonel Gutierrez, with no decision in three starts, and the Santiagueros have Wilber Reyna, who has a 1-2 record and an ERA of four runs per nine starts.
The Elite Cuban Baseball League has Las Tunas and Ciego de Avila at the top with 10 hits and six losses, followed by Industriales and Santiago de Cuba (8-8), Pinar del Rio (7-9) and Granma (5-11). (Author: Boris Luis Cabrera)
