[jksander]

APRIL 23, 1963 . . . Ludovic Peltier (3-2, 3.78 ERA, 47.2 IP, 21 K”s, 1.49 WHIP) took the mound tonight against the Cubanos’ Jose Herrera (3-3, 4.38 ERA, 51.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.46 WHIP), an evenly matched pair of aces ready to see who can outlast the other. The Cubanos took the lead 1-0 in the bottom of the second on a controversial balk call, but we tied it up in the top of the fourth with an RBI double by Victor Santos, and Antonio Fernandez hit a double moments later that batted us into the lead 2-1! Peltier was solid all night, but gave up a solo homer to Danny Hernendez, their right fielder, tying the score at 2-2 with one out in the bottom of the eighth. He got us the outs we needed to get back up to bad without surrendering the lead outright. Holmes pinch hit for him in the top of the ninth, but his hitting streak came to an end with a weak groundout to first. Esteban Salinas came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth with the score still tied, and would have had the first out easily, were it not for a Fernandez error at second. A double put two in scoring position, he walked the bases loaded, and then he walked in the winning run for the Cubanos ... what a piss-poor way to lose this one 3-2.

Peltier might as well have stayed in, but we’d hoped to buy an extra run by batting Holmes. Instead he had to settle for eight innings with seven hits, three strikeouts, four walks and two earned runs, giving him a 3.56 ERA. Salinas took the loss, falling to 1-1, allowing a hit, two walks and the unearned run. His ERA will remain at 10.80 through five innings of relief. They outhit us 8-5, with Fernandez easily being our best batter of the evening -- he hit twice and batted in a run, while Victor Santos added a hit, a run and an RBI.
 
APRIL 24, 1963 . . . If you’re a fan of seeing young prospects compete from around latin America, you’ll want to stay tuned for updates regarding a recently announced Development League tourney which will take place this August in Havana, featuring teams from Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela and Haiti. Players for these teams will be announced in early June, with the tournament expected to begin in mid-August! The leauge is being tenatively called the CDBA Development League (CBDA-DL) and hopes to stage this competition on a yearly basis if interest holds up.

For tonight’s game against the Cienfuegos Cubanos, we started Jose Guzman (2-3, 4.42 ERA, 55.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.64 WHIP) against Izzy Ochoa (3-0, 3.66 ERA, 46.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.50 WHIP). Victor Santos quickly batted in a run to get us on the board in the top of the first, but the Cubanos tied it up in the bottom of the second with a solo homer by their second baseman / center fielder Rico Zurate, sending us into the top of the third knotted up 1-1. Guzman hit a double to start the third, and we quickly loaded the bases, Guzman scoring off an RBI single by Cantimori to put us back up by a run! Flores then hit a deep shot to left, coming out with a double that scored Botello, Cantimori and Colon ... with Flores getting greedy, trying to come around to make it an inside the park homer, only getting picked off on a 7-3-5 play to end the frame with us up 5-1! The Cubanos loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, scoring a run on a sac-fly to left, but Guzman got them out on a great double play to keep the lead at three runs. Brisset hit an RBI double to get our lead back to four runs, and Guzman got another solid hit into left for a run-scoring double of his own, giving us a 7-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. The Cubanos hit an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh, followed by an RBI triple that cut our lead back to three. Guzman got our second out with a great throw from short to first that allowed another run to score, and we went into the top of the eighth with our lead sliced to 7-5. But Logan Holmes came in to replace Brisset at shortstop in the top of the eighth and hit an RBI double, giving us a three-run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. Edward Aguirre came in with two outs and men on first and second, getting us out of the inning without a run scoring, and he performed admirably in the final inning to end this one as an 8-5 victory for our Hunters!

Guzman improved to 3-3 with a 4.60 ERA, allowing 12 hits with a walk, a strikeout and five earned runs. Aguirre, meanwhile, earned his third save of the season with a hit and a walk in 1.1 innings, improving his ERA to 1.17 through four appearances and 7.2 innings! The Cubanos outhit us 13-12, but we had five doubles and only left four runners on base. Flores led the way with two hits and three runs batted in, while Brisset and Guzman each hit twice for a run and an RBI.

APRIL 25, 1963 . . . After tonight’s game we’ll be a quarter of the way through the first-ever CDBA season, and we have the chance to win another series if we can find a way to beat the Cubanos tonight on their turf. We’ll then head home to play series against Pinar del Rio and the Santa Clara Saints as we bring April to a close. Roberto Diaz (2-3, 5.67 ERA, 27.0 IP, 17 K’s, 1.85 WHIP) got the start, facing Edwin Rodriguez (2-2, 4.34 ERA, 45.2 IP, 14 K’s, 1.62 WHIP) in the rubber match. Victor Santos gave us a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the third, and Fernandez drove in a pair with a double, giving us a three-run lead in the blink of an eye. Diaz was hitless until the fourth inning, when he gave up back to back doubles to allow the Cubanos to score a run. Jose Colon hit an RBI single to get the run back in the top of the fifth, but they kept it close with two RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth, and we brought Aguirre out in the bottom of the seventh with one out and a man on second hoping to keep the 4-3 lead intact, and he did exactly that, stranding the runner at third with a pair of efficient outs! Jose Castro quickly got us some insurance in the top of the eighth with an RBI double, and Victor Diaz added an RBI single to extend the lead to 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Aguirre was phenomenal from there, getting through the rest of the game without looking like he’d sweated a drop and we held tough to win this one 6-3!

Roberto Diaz improved to 3-3, allowing eight hits and three runs with four walks and a pair of strikeouts, keeping his ERA at 5.40 through 33.1 innings. But our real ace in the hole has been Aguirre, who gave us his best relief effort yet, 2.2 innings with just one hit, two walks and a strikeout, dropping his ERA to 0.87 with his fourth save! He has only given up one earned run in his five relief appearances, earning a save in his last four in a row! We outhit the Cubanos 14-9, led by Victor Santos with three hits, two runs and an RBI, and by Jose Colon with three hits, a run and an RBI. Holmes got himself another hit as well as a run on the ground, giving him a .481 average through ten games and 27 at-bats.