Cuba Is World Port Baseball Champ

By Circles Robinson

Michael Folch pitched four innings of near-perfect relief to get the win in the final World Port Tournament game against The Netherlands.
Michael Folch pitched four innings of near-perfect relief to get the win in the final World Port Tournament game against The Netherlands.

HAVANA TIMES, July 12 – A devastating 17-hit attack led Cuba to a 9-3 win over host Holland in the championship game of the Rotterdam World Port Baseball Tournament on Sunday.

Every Cuban batter got at least one hit.  The team was led by clean up hitter catcher Ariel Sanchez and first baseman Ariel Borrero, who both had three hits and two RBIs.

On the mound Miguel A. Gonzalez went five innings allowing two earned runs and striking out five.  Reliever Micheal Folch was near hermetic, allowing only one hit and a walk and striking out four in the final four innings to get the win.

Catcher Ariel Sanchez went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs to help lead Cuba.
Catcher Ariel Sanchez went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs to help lead Cuba.

The Dutch team -which managed six hits in the game- took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a fielding error by Cuban shortstop Yolbis Borroto, but Cuba came back to tie the score in the bottom of the inning on a run driven in by second baseman Yoilan Cerce.

The game was a tense 3-3 after five and a half innings but Cuba scored one in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in the eighth to end the scoring.  Reliever Michiel van Kampen took the loss for The Netherlands.

The Cubans finished the tournament with an overall 8-1-1 record while the Dutch team ended up 4-6.  Taiwan finished third and Japan fourth.

For the complete box score see: http://www.baseballdecuba.com/RotterdamGames2009.asp?id=782