Panama U-21 baseballers heading for World Cup

PANAMA’S Under 21 Baseball team which demonstrated a clear superiority from the start of the PanAm tournament held in Panama took the title in the final with a decisive 10-2 win over  Puerto Rico.

The victory which gave them the Carlos Lee Cup, also earned them a place in next year’s World Cup

The final game was played at the Rico Cedeño Stadium , in Chitre.
Timely hitting and the great pitching work of Alberto Baldonado were key to the title.
In his six innings of work , Baldonado allowed three hits, walked four and struck out 11.

Panama 's offense went into action in the first inning with two runs and extended 
the lead with two more runs in the second r to make it 4-0 .
A sacrifice fly by Luis Carlos Barahona allowed Sanchez to score the fifth run in the third inning.
They scored again in the 6th and in the 7th added two more ( 8-0 ).
Puerto Rico responded with two runs in the top of the eighth inning against Panamanian relief shipments Agapito Barrios, but the game was decided.
In the eighth Panama put a final two runs on the boar.
The win is an incentive for Panamanian ball , especially at the higher levels , after failing to be among the top four in the World Cup 2011.
The tournament ranked the top four for the finals in the category that will be played next year at a venue to be determined.
Panama , Puerto Rico , Nicaragua and Venezuela were the countries that earned their ticket to the World Cup .