Oaxaca is the Zona Sur Champion Following the 8-4 Defeat of Mexico

GUERREROS TO FACE SULTANES DE MONTERREY IN LMB CHAMPIONSHIP

The Diablos Rojos del Mexico, playing in front of 6,400 fans at Estadio de Beisbol "Fray Nano" in Mexico City came out swinging in game 6 of the Zona Sur Championship Series against the Guerreros de Oaxaca, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st for the early 3-0 lead.

Patrick Johnson

Mexico starter, Patrick Johnson, held the Guerreros in check for 5 innings, with just a home run to Henry Urrutia in the 2nd marring his efforts. The game fell apart for the Diablos in the top of the 6th. Yordanys Linares led off with a double to the right field corner and went to third on a bunt by Jay Austin. Yuniesky Betancourt was safe at first on a play challenged by the Diablos and the bases were full. After a pitching change, Henry Urrutia hit a sac fly to left to score Linares. Dustin Geiger doubles to score Austin. Julian Ornelas followed with a double to center to score Betancourt and Geiger. Oaxaca had scored 4 times and took a 5-3 lead.

The Diablos got a run back in their half of the 6th on singles by Jesus Fabela, Carlos Figueroa and Juan Carlos Gamboa to cut the lead to 5-4.

Oaxaca's Erick Rodriguez drew a lead off walk in the top of the 7th inning. Yordanys Linares singled. With one out and runners on first and second, Mexico intentionally walked Henry Urrutia to load the bases. Dustin Geiger waited out a walk of his own to force in Rodriguez. Julian Ornelas followed with a single to score Linares and Urrutia for the 8-4 lead and the Zona Sur Championship.

Julian Ornelas

The Diablos manager, Victor Bojorquez was ejected during the inning for arguing balls and strikes. After Michael Choice was called out on strikes in the bottom of the 7th, he too was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire, Daniel Rubio.

Ozzie Mendez (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Guerreos while Patrick Johnson (1-1) gave up the big inning to Oaxaca to take the loss.

Julian Ornelas went 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs for Oaxaca while team mates Henry Urrutia was 2 for 3 with a home run and 2 RBIs and Yordanys was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored.

Juan Carlos Gamboa was 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs, Luis Jimenez 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and Jesus Fabela 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and a run scored for the Diablos.

The Guerreros de Oaxaca will now face the Sultanes de Monterrey for the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol Serie del Rey to begin in Monterrey Monday the 1st of October.

BUENA SUERTE A AMBOS EQUIPOS! 

Diablos Take Opener From Guerreros 8-6

JUAN CARLOS GAMBOA'S GRAND SLAM IGNITES OFFENSE

The Guerreros de Oaxaca jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over the Diablos after 2 innings. Mexico roared back, scoring 5 runs in the 3rd inning, powered by a grand slam off of the bat of Juan Carlos Gamboa. 1 run in the 4th and 2 runs in the 5th resulted in Mexico overpowering Oaxaca to take game 1 of their Zona Sur Championship matchup. (Watch the grand slam here)

Juan Carlos Gamboa

Oaxaca scored twice in the top of the 1st on singles by lead off hitter Yordanys Linares, Jay Austin and Henry Urrutia to give the Guerreros the quick 2-0 lead.

Julian Ornelas and Samar Leyva started the top of the 2nd for Oaxaca with singles. Both runners advanced on a fly ball out. Alejandro Gonzalez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ornelas and Leyva scored on a throwing error by the Diablo's first baseman, Guerreros 4, Diablos 0 after two innings.

The Diablos struck back hard in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Ricardo Valenzuela led off the inning being hit by a pitch. Jesus Fabela singled to left. Carlos Figueroa waited out a walk to load the bases. With one swing of the bat, Juan Carlos Gamboa cleared the bases on a deep home run to right. The grand slam tied the game for Mexico at 4 all. Two outs later, David Vidal singled and scored on a double to the left field corner by Michael Choice. The Diablos had their first lead of the game 5-4.

Ricardo Valenzuela tripled to lead off the bottom of the 4th foe Mexico and scored on a double by Jesus Fabela to give the Diablos a 6-4 lead.

Henry Urrutia homered to left to lead off the top of the 5th for Oaxaca. Dustin Geiger walked and following a line drive out to short, Samar Leyva was awarded first base when hit by a pitch. Both runnaers advanced on a bouncer back to the mound. A wild pitch allowed Geiger to score and the score was tied at 6.

Henry Urrutia

Luis Jimenez doubled in the Diablo's half of the 5th and scored on a single by David Vidal. Vidal went to third on a single by Michael Choice and scored on a force play for the final 2 runs of the game and the 8-6 win for Mexico.

Neither starter was around for the finish although both were touched for the majority or the runs scored. Arturo Lopez (1-0) picked up the win in relief and Manny Acosta struck out the 3 batters he faced in the 9th inning to record the save. Axel Rios (0-1) gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in 1 1/3 innings of work in taking the loss.

These two teams meet for game 2 of the series on Saturday the 22nd of September with the Diablos up 1 game to none in the Zona Sur Championship.

Oaxaca Need 11 Innings to Beat Leones de Yucatan 5-2

GUERREROS ADVANCE TO ZONA SUR CHAMPIONSHIP WITH EXCITING GAME 7 WIN

The Guerreros de Oaxaca needed 11 innings to overcome the Leones de Yucatan but the wait, and the excitement were worth it. With the 7th game win, the Guerreros move on to face the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Zona Sur Championship round of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol  (LMB)

The teams combined used 16 pitchers, 7 by Oaxaca and 9 by Yucatan. These pitchers threw 368 pitches (240 for strikes), gave up 21 hits, surrendered 2 doubles, a triple and 2 home runs while striking out 25 opponents. They had good control of those pitches, walking just 5 over 22 innings.

Carlos Felix

Carlos Felix was the beneficiary of the runs scored by Oaxaca in the 11th inning, having worked the final 2 1/3 innings, holding the Leones hitless while striking out 2.

Andres Meza (0-1) took the loss. He worked the final 1 2/3 innings for the Leones and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, including a home run in the 11th inning.

Singles by Henry Urrutia and Dustin Geiger started the top of the 2nd inning for the Guerreros. Julian Ornelas' sacrifice bunt was misplayed by the Leones first baseman to load the bases. Samar Leyva hit a sac fly to left to drive in Urrutia and give the Guerreros a 1-0 lead. Oaxaca loaded the bases again in the inning but were unable to score.

Julian Ornelas singled to begin the top of the 4th, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Alejandro Gonzalez. Oaxaca led 2-0.

The Guerreros loaded the bases again in the top of the 5th but couldn't push any runs across.

Leo Heras hit a 330' home run to right just inside the foul pole to start the bottom of the 5th for Yucatan that cut the lead to 2-1.

Leo Heras

Ricardo Serrano singled in the bottom of the 7th. Diego Madero was inserted as a pinch runner for Serrano. Madero moved to second on a sacrificed bunt and scored on a single to right by Heras.

There was no scoring by either team until the 11th inning.

Samar Leyvetripled to lead off the top of the 11th for Oaxaca. One out later Leyva scored on a single by Alan Sanchez. Following a strikeout by Yordanys Linares, Jay Austin, hitting just .200 for the series, launched a 2 run home run to right center that put the icing on the cake for Oaxaca and a dagger to the heart of the Leones.

Jay Austin

Oaxaca took this hard fought series from the Leones in 7 games and will now face the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in a best of 7 series for the Zona Sur Championship and the right to face the winner of the Zona Norte series between the Acereros de Monclova and the Sultanes de Monterrey.

Leones Win Game 6 Over Guerreros 2-0

EVEN 1st ROUND ZONA SUR SERIES AT 3 GAMES APIECE

Jorge Reyes

Four Leones pitchers, from starter Jorge Reyes (1-0) to Chad Gaudin shut down the Guerreros de Oaxaca for 9 innings on 5 hits with no runs for the 2-0 win. The game was not without drama though. The top of the 9th was quite nerve wracking for the 6,049 fans in attendance at Parque Kukulkan in Merida.

Chad Gaudin, although earning the save, made things interesting for the Leones in the inning. Gaudin caught Jay Austin looking for the 1st out. Yuniesky Betancourt singled with a single. (Betancourt had 3 of the 5 hits for Oaxaca) Henry Urrutia doubled to left with Betancourt stopping at third. Dustin Geiger then waited out a base on balls, loading the bases with 1 out. Orlando Pina then popped up to second, the infield fly rule was called. for the 2nd out. Samar Leyva struck out swinging for the 3rd out that ended the threat and the game.

Sebastian Valle gave the Leones pitching all the run support they would need with one swing of the bat. Eric Aguilera led off the bottom of the 4th for Yucatan with a single to center. Jose Aguilar laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Aguilera to second. Valle then took an 0-2 pitch from Delgado deep to left center, scoring Aguilera and giving Yucatan a 2-0 lead.

Sebastian Valle

Irwin Delgado (0-1) pitched a complete game for Oaxaca allowing the 2 runs on 8 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts in taking the loss.

These two teams meet again on Wednesday for the deciding 7th game of their 1st round Zona Sur playoffs to determine who will face the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Zona Sur Championship round.

Oaxaca Tops Yucatan 5-1 as Alex Delgado Tosses 3 Hitter

GUERREROS TAKE COMMAND OF ZONA SUR BATTLE 3 GAMES TO 2

Alex delgado

The Guerreros scored all the runs they would need in the first 2 innings on Sunday's game against the Leones de Yucatan to win game 5 of their series. With that run support, Alex Delgado (2-0) carried Oaxaca on his back through 6 innings, allowing 3 hits and a run while striking out 8 to get the win.

Delgado's counterpart, Leones starter Yoanner Negrin (0-1) was responsible for all 5 Guerrero runs. Negrin was tagged for 10 hits, including a 2 run home run by Henry Urrutia in the 1st inning. Negrin went 6 innings, striking out 3 and walking none in taking the loss.

Yoanner Negrin

Jay Austin stroked a one out single for Oaxaca in the bottom of the 1st and came around to score ahead of Urrutia's long home run to center for the 2-0 Guerreros lead.

Samar Leyva was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 2nd inning. Erick Rodriguez singled with Leyva stopping at second. Alejandro then hit what should be called a swinging bunt that forced Rodriguez at second. With runners at first and third, Yordanys Linares singled to center scoring Leyva as Gonzalez stopped at second. Jay Austin singled to plate Gonzalez and advance Linares to third. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a fly ball to right that scored Linares but a 9-2-6-3-6 relay caught Austin between first and second for the back end of a double play.

Yucatan scored their lone run in the top of the 6th, With 1 out, Ricardo Serrano singled to left. A wild pitch put Serrano on second. With 2 outs, Walter Ibarra singled to left to score Serrano. When Leo Heras struck out, the threat and the inning were over for the Leones.

And then the rains came. After a 2 hour and 41 minute rain delay, play resumed and the pitching took over. Neither team was able to mount any offense over the remaining 3 innings and the score stood  5-1 Guerreros.

The winner of this Zona Sur 1st round series will face the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Zona Sur Championship round. The Diablos took their series from the Pericos de Puebla 4 games to 1 on Sunday.

Henry Urrutia