Anything can still happen in the baseball tourney. Last night at Estadio Quisqueya, where the President himself was in attendance sporting an Aguilas hat, the Aguilas made their move to secure a spot in the finals scoring a resounding 7-1 victory over the Leones del Escogido. Julian Tavarez continued his post-season dominance with six and a third innings of strong work, in which he surrendered only five singles and a Rafael Furcal homerun – Escogido’s lone score. The Aguilas meanwhile hammered out 14 hits, including 4 by Luis Polonia to raise his playoff average to .500 (24 hits in 11 games) and a 2-run homerun from Tony Batista. The loss knocks Escogido out of second place and they now stand at 6-6.
Estrellas kept pace with Aguilas in the standings by scoring seven times in the first four innings, going on to defeat the Gigantes 8-2. Trinidad Hubbard scored once with his three hits and Pablo Ozuna tripled and singled, scoring twice and knocking in two more. Juan Carlos Diaz added two hits, including a homerun in the second inning to get the scoring started. Robert Ellis surrendered two solo homeruns and Andy Tracy and Kevin Barker struck out five, giving way to a solid bullpen that did not allow a hit and struck out another five.
Escogido (L. Davis) next faces Aguilas (J. Acevedo) in Santiago and Estrellas (M. Asencio) will host the Gigantes (D. Sessions) Only six games are left to decide which final two teams will play for the right to represent the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean World Series to be held in Puerto Rico.
