RECAPS CARIBBEAN PLAY-OFFS

DAY SIX: Thursday, February 7
First loss Mexicans
Licey handed leader Culiacán its first loss, winning 4-3. The Dominicans trailed 3-0 after two innings, then tied the score in the third on a two-run double by Félix José and a following error. In the sixth, Israel Alcántara homered to power Licey to its victory. Closer Luis Vizcaino pitched the eighth and ninth inning, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
Puerto Ricans rally to victory
Bayamón rallied for three runs in the first inning and went on to beat Navegantes, 3-1. Raúl González hit a sacrifrice fly, followed by RBI-singles by José León and Miguel Ortiz to give Bayamón its three runs. The Venezuelan opponent scored its lone run in the fourth on a single by Alex Cabrera.

DAY FIVE: Wednesday, February 6
First Puerto Rican victory
Alex Díaz went 3-for-5, including a two-run homerun in the sixth, and had four RBI's to lead Vaqueros de Bayamón to its first win in the Caribbean Series, beating Tigres del Licey, 8-4. Vladimir Guerrero of the Montreal Expos hit a two-run homerun in the third to give Licey its first two runs, but Bayamón went on to win the game. Before the game, the Dominicans threatened to leave the Series, after some player, including Guerrero were shoved and threatened after Tuesday's victory vs. host Venezuela.
Culiacán remains unbeaten
Tomateros de Culiacán beat host Navegantes de Magallanes, 13-9 to remain unbeaten after four games and to move within one victory of the Caribbean title. Trailing 6-3, Navegantes scored four runs in the third on a two-run double by Carlos Guillen and a two-run single by Carlos Hernandez, but in the seventh, Adán Amezcua homered to tie the score. In the home seventh, the Venezuelans re-took the lead on a two-run double by Endy Chávez, but in the eighth, Culiacán rallied for four runs to take a definitive lead in the game.

DAY FOUR: Tuesday, February 5
Mexicans wins third game to lead Series
Caribbean Series-leader and Mexican champion Tomateros de Culiacán won its third game, beating Vaqueros de Bayamón (Puerto Rico), 9-7. Which looked like a convincing victory turned into another close game. Culiacán was leading 8-1 after seven innings, but the Bayamón scored five in the eighth. Jacob Cruz, who homered Culiacán to its first win, homered again to give his team a 1-0 lead in the first. After Bayamón tied the score in the second, Kit Pellow's homerun renewed the Mexicans lead in the fourth. In the fifth, they added four runs on a two-run homerun by Adan Amezcua, an RBI-double by Jacob Cruz and a squeeze by Mario Valdez. Two more runs were added in the sixth on a double by Darrel Sherman and a basesloaded walk to Derrick White to make it 8-1. In the top of the eighth, Bayamón suddenly came to life, rallying for five runs on four hits, including RBI-doubles by José Léon and Carlos Baerga. Leading 8-6, Jacob Cruz hit his second homerun of the game in the home eighth, before Bayamón's Omar García homered in the ninth. With Culiacán still leading 9-7, closer Todd Revening then took over and earned his second save of the Series.
Veteran homers Dominicans to victory
36-year old veteran Félix José hit two homeruns to lead Tigres del Licey (Dominican Republic) to a 9-5 win over Nagevegantes de Magallanes (Venezuela), despite its 18 hits. After hitting a solo homerun, José's three-run shot highlighted a six-run fifth, in which D'Angelo Jiménez added a two-run homer. In the ninth, trailing by six runs, Derek Nicholson and Robert Machado homered for Navegantes. For Machado it was his second of the game.

DAY THREE: Monday, February 4
Culiacán wins second game
Culiacán won its second game, beating Licey, 7-6. Trailing 2-1, Culiacán rallied for four runs in the fourth on an RBI-single by Mario Valdez and a three-run homerun by Adan Amezcua. After scoring once in its fourth, Licey tied the score with a two-run sixth on a two-run single by Alberto Castillo. Tomateros re-took the lead in the seventh (7-5) on a sac-fly and an error. Licey's Ron Belliard hit his second consecutive lead-off homerun in the first inning.
César Isturiz singled in the winning run with the bases loaded in the ninth with two outs to give Nagevantes (Venezuela) its first win, defeating Bayamón (Puerto Rico), 7-6. Despite homeruns by Alex Díaz, Carlos Baerga and Joel Chimelis, the Puerto Ricans ended up short. Isturiz, an infielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers, had two previous RBI's on sacrifice flies. His second came in the eighth with the bases loaded to tie the score, 6-6. The sac-fly came after he had hit a single, which would have been the game-winner, but the leftfield umpire had called time before pitcher José Santiago had delivered the pitch, because a ball rolled onto the field from the bullpen. The single was cancelled, but Isturiz then hit his sac-fly, before deciding the game in the ninth. The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by former Major Leaguer (Cincinnati Reds) Dave Concepción.

DAY TWO: Sunday, February 3
Mexicans beat host in extra inning
Tomateros de Culiacán beat Navegantes de Magallanes, 8-7 in ten innings on Sunday-afternoon. The Venezuelan host of this years Caribbean Series led 4-0 after two innings, as Carlos Guillen homered in the first, before the team added three runs in the second. After the Mexicans scored its first run in the third, Navegantes added a run in the fourth on a homerun by Robert Pérez. In the home fourth, Adan Amezcua hit a two-run double and in the sixth, Robert Vizcarra drew a basesloaded walk to make it 5-4. Still trailing, Culiacán took the lead in the seventh on RBI-singles by Derrick White and Mario Valdez, but Navegantes re-took the lead (7-6) in the eighth when Robert Machado hit a two-run homerun. The game was far from over, because the Mexicans tied the score in the ninth on a single by Adan Amezcua, then went on to win it on a two-out homerun by Jacob Cruz in the tenth.

DAY ONE: Saturday, February 2
Licey wins Caribbean Opener
Tigres del Licey from the Dominican Republic, which won eight previous Caribbean Series, won this years opener on Saturday-evening, beating Bayamón Vaqueros (Puerto Rico), 9-5. In the fourth, Licey broke a 1-1 tie when Miguel Tejada hit a two-run homerun. In the fifth, Licey added four runs, highlighted by a three-run homerun by Vladimir Guerrero, who added a solo-homerun in the eighth. Bayamón scored three runs in the seventh, two on a double by Miguel Correa, who played in the Venezuelan Series last week for losing finalists Tigres de Aragua and was added to Bayamón's roster in the following days. Winning pitcher Odalis Pérez allowed only three hits in six innings.

Play-Offs Dominican Republic
Play-Offs Mexico
Play-Offs Puerto Rico
Play-Offs Venezuela

DAY EIGHT: Saturday, February 9
Victorian Aces won the Claxton Shield after beating defending champions Western Australia Heelers, 6-5 on Saturday-evening. Victoria scored twice in the first, but the Heelers took the lead in a three-run second, then added a run in the seventh. Victoria re-took the lead in its seventh with a three-run rally, but in the top of the ninth, Western Australia came alongside. In the home ninth, with one out, Victoria scored the winning run on an RBI-double by Brett Tamburrino, making a winner of closer David White.

DAY SEVEN: Friday, February 8
Western Australia became the first finalist, winning the semi-final vs. Queensland, 8-1 on 12 hits. Gavin Edmondson, Lachlan Dale and Scott Horrigan all had three hits. Dale added two runs and two RBI's, while Luke Hughes went 2-for-3 with three RBI's.
In the second semi-final, Victoria clinched, after beating South Australia, 5-2. Winning pitcher David McWatters struckout five in seven innings, while closer David White struckout two, pitching the last inning to earn a save.

DAY SIX: Thursday, February 7
New South Wales beat Australian Provincials, 4-1, scoring three runs in the third. David Thorne was the winning pitcher, striking out seven in four middel innings in relief. The Provincials lost its fifth straight game.
The game between Queensland and Western Australia ended in an 8-8 tie. Matt Buckley went 3-for-5 with two doubles for Queensland, while Stephen Tope and Jason Hewitt both went 3-for-5. Tope doubled and had three RBI's.
The night game between Victoria and South Australia was cancelled due to bad weather and will not be replayed.

DAY FIVE: Wednesday, February 6
The fifth day of the Claxton Shield Tournament started with a 1-0 win by Western Australia over New South Wales. The lone run was scored in the home ninth with two out, when Lachlan Dale scored on a game-winning hit by Scott Horrigan. Winning pitcher Shane Tonkin went the distance, striking out only two.
Victoria won its fourth game, beating Australian Provincials 10-5 on 13 hits, including four in four at bats by John Edwards, who also tripled and homered. Scott Peace hit two homeruns for the losing team. Adam Burton and Myles Barnden added homers for Victoria.
Queensland nipped Southern Australia, 5-4. The team trailed 4-1 in the eighth, then rallied for three runs to tie the score and win it in the ninth.

DAY FOUR: Tuesday, February 5
Queensland won its first game, beating Australian Provincials, 7-6 on homeruns by Paul Gonzalez and Ben Foster, who both had three RBI's. Queensland rallied for three runs in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie, then added two in the seventh. Winning pitcher John Veitch struckout seven in six-plus innings.
In the evening, Western Heelers win 10-4 vs. Southern Australian, as both Gavin Edmondson and Scott Horrigan went 3-for-5. Edmondson had two doubles and two RBI's, while Horrigon homered and had two RBI's.

DAY THREE: Monday, February 4
South Australia won its second game, beating New South Wales, 13-7. In the sixth, South Australia was leading 10-1. The team had fourteen hits, including four by Darren White, who also had three RBI's and scored two runs.
Western Australia won 5-4 vs. Australian Provincials. Trailing 4-3, the team scored two runs in the sixth to take the lead.
Victoria beat Queensland, 7-5, to win its third consecutive game. Victoria had fourteen hits, including three by Adam Burton, who went 3-for-5 with a double. Paul Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a homerun for Queensland.

DAY TWO: Sunday, February 3
South Australia opened the second day with a 5-4 win vs. Australian Provincials. In the home ninth, the winners broke a 4-4 tie on a two-out single by Mark Paparella, who went 4-for-4, scoring Craig Watts, who made an outstanding diving catch in the top of the inning, then completed a double play, avoiding possible Provincial-runs.
In the next game, New South Wales beat Queensland, 8-3. Trailing 3-2, they tied the score in the fifth, then scored three runs in the sixth and added two in the eighth. NSW had 12 hits, including four by Trent Oeltjen in five at bats. He also had three RBI's.
Victoria won its second game, winning 5-4 vs. Western Australia. The team led 5-0 after three innings, then gave up two runs in the fifth inning and one each in the seventh and ninth.

DAY ONE: Saturday, February 2
Victorian Aces opened the Round Robin with a 5-1 win vs. New South Wales, breaking a 1-1 tie with two runs in the seventh and eighth inning. Rod van Buizen had three of NSW's eight hits.

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