Cuba dominates Baseball World Cup

Cuba became the favorite to win the first Baseball Fives World Cup held in Mexico City’s Zocalo Square after a decisive victory over its opponents.

They beat Hong Kong twice on Wednesday morning, 12-3 and 10-0 (elimination round).

They were also ruthless in their two matches against local teams, winning their first Super Knockout of the tournament (21-0) that night and later claiming their second Super Knockout of the day (10-0).

Cuba scored 53 points on Wednesday (the third game of the tournament) but only managed three points.

The best players were Orlando Amador, Briandy Molina and Roivelis Núñez, who reached base in 56 of 68 at-bats and had an on-base percentage (OBP) of .823.

Team manager Pablo Terry commented: “The team went from weak to strong. On the same day, we had a cold start against Hong Kong, and then all the technical and tactical instructions were strictly followed. We tried to score at least five points in the first two frames to rotate players and substitutes and make sure they all performed well in the decider.”

Briandy Molina, one of the best performers in the tournament, spoke about Cuba’s goal: “Our only goal is to win the title and share it with teammates who were unable to participate due to health problems. We promised coach Terry before the game that we would give Mexico a super knockout game, and we did it. We were very well prepared in Cuba and the results are in.”

Cuba secured its place in the Super Round with four wins on Day 3, followed by Japan (3-1), Mexico and Lithuania (2-2). Bottom of Group A were South Africa (1-3) and Hong Kong (0-4).

Group B is led by Venezuela at 4-0, followed by Taiwan (3-1), France and Tunisia (2-2), Kenya (1-3) and South Korea (0-4).

Cuba’s final match in the qualifying stage is against Japan at 12:30 p.m. (local time) this Thursday.

(Data from JIT)