Last night the skies above Santiago de los Caballeros lit up with fireworks celebrating the 18th Dominican Winter League Championship for the Aguilas Cibaenas, following their victory over the Tigres del Licey, 7-1 and won the final series four games to three. On Friday, it looked like the series would end in Santiago as the Aguilas took a three games to one lead after winning Thursday night in Santo Domingo. It was not to be: Licey won a thriller 10-9 and the series went back to Santo Domingo, where the Tigres won again 12-8, sending the series back to Santiago’s “Valley of Death” for the seventh and final game. Juan Carlos Cruz pitched for Licey and Julian Tavarez for the Aguilas. Limiting the powerful Licey offensive to just one run over 6 2/3 innings Tavarez increased his all-time record of most victories in the Dominican playoffs. He was supported by solid relief work by Arnaldo Munoz and Jose Vargas. It was an exciting game with Licey getting a head start in the third inning with a double by big-leaguer D’Angelo Jimenez and singles by Sandy Martinez and Luis Castillo. However, in the fourth, a base on balls to the series MVP, Miguel Tejada, led to the tying run as Tejada scored from first on a two base hit by Matt Cepicky. This was followed by a hit by Alex Fernandez, moving Cepicky to third. After a fly out by Edwin Encarnacion, Alexis Gomes bunted down the first base line, but Cepicky was out at the plate. A base on balls and a hit batsman produced a second run. In the next inning Cepicky greeted Cruz with a homerun and the Aguilas were on their way.
With the victory, their 18th in the Winter League, the Aguilas are tied with Licey for the most victories, and earn the right to play in the Caribbean Series this week in Mazatlan, Mexico. They have announced that players such as Jose Offerman, Pedro Feliz, Jose Guillen and Rafael Furcal have been asked to join the club as re-inforcements.