From tomorrow they will dispute the crown of the autumn-winter tournament. The last time they met was in the 1979-1980 fair
The Tigres del Licey and the Estrellas Orientales will meet, for the fourth time, in a Final Series. It occurs after both teams eliminated the Gigantes del Cibao 8-0 and Águilas Cibaeñas 3-2 last night in matches held at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadiums in this Capital and Cibao de Santiago.
The final, agreed to a 7-4, is scheduled to start tomorrow at the “Colossus” of the La Fe expansion with the first game scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m., because the capital team won the particular series those of the Sultana del Este 4-1.
The first time that Licey and Estrellas met in a final phase of the autumn-winter baseball tournament happened in 1954 (it was played in the summer at La Normal Stadium), when the Petromacorisan team won the cup in five games. Ramón Bragaña was the leader at that time.
Then, in the fall-winter 1972-1973 campaign, and with Tom Lasorda as manager, the Tigers lifted the cup by winning the tournament in seven games. Meanwhile, in the 1979-1980 season, they met again for the last time with victory for the Blues in six matches.
For the blues, who have won 22 scepters, it will be the 37th final, while for the greens (three championships) the 16th. The winner will represent the Dominican Republic in the 65th edition of the Caribbean Series to be held in Caracas, Venezuela .
The imported raffle will be held at four in the afternoon today. There will be two rounds of selections.
A six-run rally in the third inning sealed the pass for those led by José Offerman against Giants starter Cristopher Molina (0-1).
Meanwhile, Brooks Hall (2-1), along with three relievers, kept the Giants’ bats deep throughout the game. The only two hits the Giants connected were by Starlin Castro and Luis Liberato.
Mel Rojas Jr. led the attack for the Bengalese by hitting his third homer of the series and driving in two runs in the game. Ramón Hernández, Ronny Mauricio and Jesús Sucre each drove in a run with a hit and two sacrifice flies.
On their side, the Stars advanced for the second consecutive season to the final by defeating the Eagles.
The three runs for the Stars were produced by Gustavo Núñez, Jeimer Candelario and Junior Lake, with home runs each, all against Águilas pitcher Roenis Elías (3-1), who took the setback after working five innings and a third of five hits, one walk and struck out four batters for 21 he faced.
Meanwhile, Edwin Uceta (1-0) threw five good innings of just four hits, one transfer and three strikeouts to win. The save, the fourth of the semifinal series, corresponded to Ronel Blanco, who worked the last two thirds of the ninth inning. Likewise, it was the fifth consecutive victory for those led by Fernando Tatis, and the fifth in the semifinal against the yellow team in six games.
