III Elite League - Postseason | The Las Tunas Lumberjacks defeated the Santiago de Cuba Wasps 10-6 in Game 6, advancing to the Elite League final against the Ciego de Ávila Tigers
- BaseballdeCuba
- May 29
- 6 min read
The Las Tunas Lumberjacks are on the brink of becoming the absolute champions of Cuba. On Wednesday afternoon, they secured a 10-6 victory over the Santiago de Cuba Wasps in Game 6 of the semifinals of the III Cuban Baseball Elite League (III ELCB), held at Julio A. Mella Park in Las Tunas. This win advances them to the tournament final, where the Ciego de Ávila Tigers have been waiting since last Sunday.
Even though the final schedule hasn't been announced yet, many view Tigres as slight favorites, as they defeated the Leñadores five games to three during the qualifying stage of the III ELCB.
Santiago de Cuba ended up in third place in this III ELCB, after completing the qualifying stage ahead of Industriales.
This afternoon, it briefly appeared that the Wasps might prolong the series, as they secured a five-run lead in the third inning and maintained it for five and a half innings.
In that period, Santiago de Cuba right-hander Osvaldo Acuña displayed exceptional skill over the initial five innings, effectively managing every Las Tunas batter by conceding just four hits and two runs. Notably, in three of those innings, Acuña didn't give up a hit, although he did hit Roberto Baldoquín with a pitch in the fifth inning, which had no significant impact.
His teammates provided him with a five-run lead in the third inning, combining a six-hit offensive with two errors by the Lumberjacks' defense.
Raydel Sánchez, Alexander Llánes, and José L. Gutiérrez singled off starter Jesús E. Pérez to load the bases in the third inning. After Francisco Martínez was out, Osvaldo Abreu grounded to Pérez, forcing the runner at home. But attempting a double play, catcher Yosvani Alarcón made a throwing error to first base, allowing the runner from second to score the game's first run.
Jeison Martínez hit a double that brought in the second run. Edilse Silva was intentionally walked on a 3-1 count to load the bases again. Pérez then struck out Eduardo García, which should have been the third out of the inning. However, Alarcón allowed a passed ball and committed another throwing error to first base, allowing Santiago to score two additional runs and extend the inning.
Yulieski Remón hit a single to center field, bringing in the inning's final run and prompting the Las Tunas starter to leave the game. Pérez didn't perform exceptionally, but to be fair, he wasn't well supported defensively during the inning.
Additional runs might have been scored, but against reliever Wilson Paredes (3-0), who eventually won the game, Raydel Sánchez secured his second hit of the inning. Nonetheless, Eduardo García was tagged out at home plate by a strong throw from right fielder Héctor Castillo, concluding the inning.
The Santiago starter, Acuña, faced his first challenging moment of the game in the bottom of the third inning. Castillo started with a single, advanced to second on a Yuniesky Larduet groundout, and moved to third due to an error. Acuña seemed to have gotten out of the inning without any damage after striking out Baldoquín for the second out. However, Luis V. Mateo hit a double, allowing Las Tunas to score their first run, and Yosvani Alarcón followed with another hit, narrowing the score to 5-2.
The game stayed the same, as Santiago posed a threat by getting two hits off Paredes in the fifth inning, but this didn't affect the score. It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth inning that Las Tunas mounted a comeback, clinching the game and their spot in the final.
Acuña started the inning by allowing consecutive singles to the Alarcón brothers. Yudier Rondón then hit an RBI single, making the score 5-3. As a result, Santiago manager Eddy Cajigal decided to call in the bullpen earlier than usual, despite Acuña having thrown only 79 pitches.
Right-handed pitcher Joel Tejeda stepped up to the mound and, after retiring Leonel Moas in a fly-out caught by catcher Llánes, Lázaro Ponce boldly hit a single to left field on the first pitch. An error by outfielder Gutiérrez then enabled Alarcón to score, bringing Las Tunas just one run away from tying the game.
This followed a puzzling play where Rondón attempted to steal third and was nearly caught by pitcher Tejeda. However, Tejeda's throw to third was insufficient, as third baseman Abreu was positioned too far forward to effectively block the runner. Moments later, Castillo hit a grounder to shortstop, driving in Rondón for the tying run, while Ponce was tagged out at second. Castillo then stole second and scored on Larduet's single to left, giving Las Tunas their first lead of the game, which they maintained.
The last two runs of the inning were scored when shortstop Yulieski Remón committed an error on Baldoquín's ground ball, allowing runners to reach third and second. Mateo then hit a triple to center field, driving in both runners and completing a six-run inning, which gave the Leñadores an 8-5 advantage.
"They're fighters. Even with Santiago ahead by five, they were determined, saying, 'Now it's our turn to take control of the game, we're going to seize it from them.' On the bench, their focus was entirely on staging a comeback," Las Tunas manager Abeicy Pantoja shared with reporter Gretel Yanet after the match.
An inning later, Las Tunas extended their lead against Tejeda on a Moas' single and Ponce's RBI double. In the eighth, they scored their last run against the Santiago team's fourth reliever, Jesús Quintán, when he walked Mateo, went to third on a Yosvani Alarcón single, and scored on a Yordanis Alarcón sacrifice fly.
After starter Jesús E. Pérez left in the third inning, the Leñadores' bullpen effectively silenced the Wasps. Wilson Paredes pitched for 3 1/3 innings, while Kenel Ferráz and Rodolfo Silva each contributed one inning. Together, they delivered 5 1/3 scoreless innings, with four strikeouts, two walks, and allowing six hits, which gave their offense a chance to rally, as they did in the sixth inning.
When Cristian Rojas was tasked with finishing Las Tunas' win in the ninth inning, he started by walking Gutiérrez and giving up a single to Francisco Martínez. Yanielquis Duardo came in and clinched the win by retiring the next three batters, but he couldn't prevent Gutiérrez from scoring one last run on Jeison Martínez's sacrifice fly.
"Ciego is a formidable rival. I've always maintained that they are not inferior to anyone, and now they're set to compete for the championship. But we are fully committed. We've already set our sights on our objective: we're aiming for the championship," manager Abeicy Pantoja stated to Gretel Yanet regarding Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas' upcoming opponent in the final of this III Elite League.
Leonel Moas, a Camagüey native who was a key player for Las Tunas in this semifinal with an offensive line of .370/.414/.519 and 6 RBIs in the series, shared with journalist Gretel Yanet: "We achieved our objective, which was to try to finish today. We couldn't do it in Santiago, but today things went better for us and we won." He added, "The team always believed that things would improve after the two losses in Santiago, and upon returning to the Forest - in reference to the Julio A. Mella stadium - we played better than we did on the road, and everything went as we expected."
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