SPAIN – The No. 3 ranked Marlins Puerto Cruz escaped with a pair of hard-fought road victories against El Llano last weekend to remain unbeaten in the Spanish League. The Marlins improved to 4-0 on the young season, while El Llano dropped to 2-2.

The four-time reigning league champions needed extra innings to carve out a 2-1 win in the weekend opener. Juan Carlos Macias drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the top of the 10th to make a winner out of reliever Audie Nunez (1-0), who registered the final three outs to end the game.

A run-scoring single by Jose Morales put El Llano ahead in the sixth, but the Marlins countered with an RBI single by Jose Luis Salazar the following inning to knot the score at 1-all. The score remained deadlocked until Macias delivered his clutch hit in extra innings.

WEEKLY SCOREBOARD
Marlins PC 2,5 El Llano 1,2
FC Barcelona 1,4 San Inazio Bilbao 0,0
Sant Boi 3,15 Astros 2,0
Viladecans 2,17 Baseball Navara 1,2
Pamplona 2,13 Halcones 0,14

Marlins starter Leslie Nacar turned in another solid outing in a nine-inning, no-decision effort. The right-hander allowed one run and eight hits while striking out nine with just one walk.

In the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader, Victor Lopez had four hits and the Marlins completed the sweep with a 5-1 victory.

Lopez scored twice to go along with a 4-for-4 day at the plate, and Daniel Sanchez had two RBIs for the Marlins who plated a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings.

Marlins starter Ivan Granados (2-0) went the distance allowing a run and 11 hits to secure his second win in as many starts. The left-hander, who joined the Tenerife-based club a year ago as a free agent, struck out five and walked three.

El Llano, which outhit the Marlins 19-13 in the twinbill, were led by Javier Peyrote who tallied three hits in the second game.

FC BARCELONA BLANKS SAN INAZIO BILBAO TWICE

Homer Baez struck out a season-high 15 and Felix Isasi scored the game-winner on Juan Manuel Salazar’s groundout in the top of the 11th to foil the upset bid by San Inazio Bilbao with a narrow 1-0 victory this past weekend. FC Barcelona claimed a 4-0 win in the second game to sweep the weeken series.

Baez (2-0), who tossed 10 innings in a season-opening triumph last week, limited San Inazio to just three hits in 11 scoreless innings to outlast Fidel Mane and notch his second win of the season.

Mane allowed one walk and five hits over seven shutout innings in a no-decision outing. Reliever Willy Guedez (0-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing one run and three hits.

Orlando Diaz homered and Pedro Belmonte turned in his second strong showing of the young season for FC Barcelona in a 4-0 victory in the weekend finale.

Jason Friedman put the visitors on top in the first with a RBI hit, and Diaz smacked a solo shot in the fourth to give FC Barcelona a 2-0 cushion. Jehan Machado’s two-run single in the seventh finished off the shutout victory.

Belmonte (2-0) picked up his second win for his new team while San Inazio starter Alberto Magallon (0-1) took the loss.

SANT BOI SURVIVES SCARE; SWEEPS ASTROS

Oscar Alvarez scattered three hits and Sant Boi scored a late run to knock off the upset-minded Astros, 3-2, this past weekend. However, Sant Boi regrouped in the second ballgame to capture a lopsided 15-0 victory.

The Astros (0-4), who failed to win a game last season, erased a 2-0 deficit with a pair of runs in the eighth to threatened to knock off one of the league’s elite squads. But Yaeko Vazquez scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the inning to propel Sant Boi (4-0) to the one-run win.

Alvarez (2-0) allowed two uneaned runs and three hits in a complete-game effort that included six strikeouts.

Astros relief pitcher Norman Cowes (0-2) was charged with the setback

Sant Boi erupted for seven runs in the first and rolled to a 15-0 blowout win in the second game behind a solid pitching performance by Jose Cruz.

Cruz (2-0) fanned 11 in six overpowering innings while allowing a pair of walks and just four hits.

Carlos Fente paced Sant Boi at the plate with three hits and four RBIs. Rafael Rivas and Jose L. Riera both had two RBIs apiece, and Yaeko Vazquez tallied three scores for the winners.

Raul Agueda (0-1) absorbed the loss after surrendering seven runs in less than two innings.

SPANISH LEAGUE

Photo courtesy of Ralph Piva

Tags: Spain