The Cuban Under-23 baseball team enjoys a well-deserved rest today in Panama, after starting with two victories that place it at the top of its group in the Pan American Championship

The lads managed by Danny Miranda started strongly by beating the US Virgin Islands 8-2 and yesterday defeated Aruba 5-0 in their second outing on the grass of the Justino Salinas stadium

In that duel the starter José Ignacio Bermúdez was untouchable: six solid innings, just four hits allowed and five strikeouts. To finish, Yuniel Batista closed with a flourish by getting the last outs, two of them via the fastball

Harold Vázquez drove in the first run with an early double, and later, in the sixth inning, a cluster of four runs ended up sealing the match. Among errors by the rival defence, a double by Dairon Miranda and a hit by Yunieski Remón, the scoreboard definitively tilted to the Cuban side

Now the Antillean troop has a key clash ahead against Puerto Rico tomorrow Wednesday, before closing the group phase against the Bahamas on Thursday

The tournament is running evenly: in the other bracket, Panama is also undefeated, Mexico debuted with a victory, Guatemala shows a 1-1 record and Honduras has yet to know victory

The top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals, and the three that ascend the podium will take as a prize the ticket to the category’s World Cup that Nicaragua will host in 2026