Diablos Move to Championship Round of the Zona Sur with Series Win over Pericos

BEST PERICOS TWICE ON SUNDAY TO TAKE SERIES 4 GAMES TO 1

The Diablos got solid pitching and timely hitting in their 3-1 win in the 5th game of the series. Mexico recorded just 5 hits but made the most of them, scoring 3 runs on 3 hits off of the Pericos starter.

Mexico moves on to the Zona Sur Championship round to face either the Leones de Yucatan or the Guerreros de Oaxaca in a best of seven series. At the time of this article, Oaxaca was leading the Leones in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Carlos Figueroa started the game by drawing a walk. Juan Carlos Gamboa, the second batter, also waited out a base on balls to put runners on first and second with no outs. Yeison Asencio hit a fly ball to left that advanced Figueroa to third. Luis Jimenez singled to drive in Figueroa for the 1-0 Diablos lead.

Mexico added 2 runs in the 3rd inning. With one out, Juan Carlos Gamboa drew a walk but was forced at second on a ground ball by Yeison Asencio. Asencio scored in front of a towering home run to left off of the bat of Luis Jimenez. Diablos 3-0.

Luis Jimenez

The Perico's bats were held in check, 5 hits through 6 innings. In the bottom of the 7th, Michael Crouse hit a lead off single and advanced to second 2 pitches later on a wild pitch. Daniel Sanchez hit a grounder to short that moved Crouse to third. Oscar Sanay then singled to bring in Crouse but that would be all the scoring for the Pericos in the 3-1 loss.

Luis Mendoza (1-0) scattered 7 hits over 6 2/3 innings allowing 1 run, walking 2 and striking out 4 in recording the win. Manny Acosta earned his 2nd save of the series allowing one base runner in the 9th.

Josh Outman (2-0) pitched well except for the home run he allowed to Jimenez. He gave up all 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 3 without recording a strikeout in the loss for Puebla.

The hitting hero for Mexico was Luis Jimenez who went 3 for 4 with the home run and 2 singles, driving in all 3 runs for the Diablos.

Sergio Perez went 3 for 4 and Michael Crouse 2 for 3 with a walk, in the loss. Oscar Sanay had the only RBI for the Pericos.

Leones de Yucatan Top Guerreros de Oaxaca 3-1 in LMB Zona Sur Playoff Matchup

AN EARLY GAME CAUSED BY RAINOUT ON THURSDAY

Yucatan 3     Oaxaca 1

The Leones took game 3 of their Zona Sur 1st round playoff series against the Guerreros de Oaxaca with a 3-1 victory in front of 3,000 fans in Oaxaca. The Guerreros now lead the best-of-7 series 2 games to 1,

Cesar Valdez

Cesar Valdez (1-0) went 7 innings on the hill for Yucatan, surrendering 1 run on 6 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Chad Gaudin pitched a perfect 9th inning to record his 1st save of the playoffs.

Ruddy Acosta (0-1) gave up 2 runs on 6 hits over 5 2/3 innings to take the loss for Oaxaca.

Yucatan scored in the 3rd inning on a walk to Jose Aguilar, a single by Hector Hernandez one out later and a run scoring single by Walter Ibarra with 2 outs.

The Leones added a run in the 5th on a single by Aguilar and a double by Sebastian Valle for the 2-0 lead.

Oaxaca scored their lone run in the bottom of the 6th inning on a single by Yordanys Linares, a ground ball out that moved Linares to second, a single by Yuniesky Betancourt and a ground ball out by Dustin Geiger that scored Linares from third.

An error by the Guerreros 3rd baseman allowed Jonathan Jones to score from third with an insurance run for the Leones in the 8th inning. That was all that was needed as Gaudin set the Guerreros down in order in the 9th to preserve the win.

Jonathan Jones