Things will get into full swing Wednesday night when all 16 LMB teams will be in action, with teams playing return matches on Thursday to complete their respective two-game home-and-home season opening series. The Liga schedule will revert to its usual three-game series format Friday through Sunday, followed by the traditional Monday off-day.

As in 2009, Mexican League teams will play their 108-game schedules solely against the other seven teams within their own division to save money on travel costs. The Northern Zone consists of Saltillo, Monclova, Monterrey, Mexico City, Reynosa, Laguna, Nuevo Laredo and Chihuahua. The Southern Zone lineup includes Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Puebla, Minatitlan and Veracruz. No franchises were moved in the offseason.

FIVE SELECTED TO ENTER SALON DE LA FAMA
Mexican baseball’s version of the hall of fame, the Salon de la Fama, last week announced the election of five new members for 2010. Chairman of the Electors Gonzalo Camarillo gave the names of the new inductees last Wednesday at the Monterrey facility.
Joining the pantheon were position players Alonso Tellez, Gerardo Sanchez and Derek Bryant, pitcher Armando Reynoso and umpire Efrain Ibarra.

An outfielder, Tellez was a perennial .300 batter (mostly for the Monterrey Industriales and Reynosa) from the mid-1980s through the early 2000s. Tellez who topped the .300 mark for 10 consecutive Mexican League seasons between 1988 and 1997.

Sanchez was an outfielder for Nuevo Laredo for two decades, finishing with a .289 career batting average and 199 homers. Bryant, who currently manages the Laguna Vaqueros, was a very productive batter from 1982 through 1988, hitting .355 with 141 homers in 704 games for the Mexico City Tigres, Tampico and Monterrey. He also managed Monterrey to Liga pennants in 1995 and 1996.

Reynoso, a native of San Luis Potosi, spent all or part of 12 seasons in the major leagues, compiling a career 68-62 record with a 4.74 ERA. Ibarra spent many years as one of the Liga’s most- respected umpires.

The five newest members will be formally inducted into the Salon in June.

Bruce Baskin is Editor/Producer at the BASEBALL MEXICO website.

Photo courtesy of www2.esmas.co

For a FREE subscription to BASEBALL MEXICO, send an email to BaseballMexico@live.com or visit the BASEBALL MEXICO blog at www.BaseballMexico.blogspot.com

Barcelona tagged Marlins ace right-hander Leslie Nacar with a quick score. Leadoff man Emmanuel Febles started the opening frame with a triple to right field. Orlando Diaz put Barcelona on top with a clutch two-out RBI base hit.

Barcelona plated a pair of runs in the fifth before tallying four scores the next inning that was highlighted by a two-run double by Albert Diaz. It was more than enough support for the emerging staff ace of manager Aldo Tarife’s squad.

Friedman (2-0), coming off a 13 strikeout performance in a 5-2 win against Navarra a week earlier, sat down the first nine batters he faced before walking Minnesota Twins prospect Lesther Galvan to open the fourth. He rebounded to retire the next eight Marlins before Galvan reached on another free pass in the sixth.

The Marlins foiled the no-hit bid in the eighth when Javier Flores led off with a solo home run. Key free agent hurler Delio Miguel Martinez took over on the hill and allowed a run and three hits to seal the win.

Orlando Diaz and Oscar Angulo led a 15-hit attack and Barcelona erupted for seven runs in the fifth en route to a lopsided 15-6 shocker in the second game. Angulo, who made his debut at shortstop for Barcelona in the opening contest, went 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

Felix Isasi tallied four hits and Orlando Diaz drove in five runs for unbeaten Barcelona.

Tenerife was paced by sluggers Richard Montiel and Luis Landaeta who combined for three long balls and five RBIs.

Orlando Diaz again was right in the middle of the action, collecting five RBI. Oscar Angulo drove in three. Leadoff hitter Emmanuel Febles crossed the plate three times. Richard Montiel and Luis Landaeta led the Puerto Cruz offense with a combined seven hits, three homeruns, four runs and five RBI.

Pedro Belmonte (2-0) had a rocky eight-inning appearance giving up five runs on 12 hits but still managed to nab the win.

Photo courtesy of Diego Lazaro

Chorot, a right-hander that back in 2005, during the 44 National Series was part of Isla de la Juventud team, today was pitching at Latinoamericano Stadium in front of 50,519 fans during Game 4 of the Western Finals and… he did well.

Lions starter limited the Cowboys to six hits, striking out four and walking three in seven scoreless innings, a his defense did him favors producing four double plays while the Lions lineup jumped on the Habana pitcher Yulieski González on the way to an 8-2 victory.

The Lions scored first during the second inning combining Leugim Barroso and Frank C. Morejón singles, a straight double steal by the two players, and a sacrifice fly to center of Raiko Olivares.

In the third, Industriales piled on two more runs, when consecutive hits by Serguei Pérez and Alexander Malleta, a sacrifice fly to center of Yohandry Urgellés, a walk to Rudy Reyes and the second single in the game by Barroso, ended the inning with an Industriales 3-0 lead.

Yulieski ended his work after Barroso’ single, the lefty worked 2 2/3 innings and allowed tree runs on six hits while struck out three and walked also three for the loss. Right-hander Jonder Martínez relieved Yulieski and ended the inning retiring the next batter.

In the bottom of the fifth Industriales scored two more runs. Alexander Malleta started the inning with triple to left-center. Jonder retired Urgellés but walked Rudy Reyes putting runners in third and first. Then the righty dominated Barroso in grounder to second moving Reyes to second base and in a good strategy, Jonder intentionally walked Morejón to pitch Raiko Olivares – .250 with runners in scoring position during the 49 National Series. But, Raiko responded with double to right bringing Malleta and Reyes home.

In the sixth, Irait Chirino led off the inning with double to left, Jonder retired Carlos Tabares and Serguei Pérez – Chirino went to third – then, in a weird managerial decision, the Cowboys didn’t take any chances and intentionally walked Malleta, sparking a chorus of boos from fans of both teams but, that didn’t work either, when Urgellés belted a three-run homer to right-center putting the score 8-0.

Lions closer Yohandry Portal pitched the last two innings allowing the only two runs La Habana scored in the game.

Monday afternoon (1:00 pm) is Game 5 and right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne – who beat La Habana with a dominant 61/3 innings effort in Game 1 – gets the ball for the Lions when they will try to topple righty Miguel Alfredo González – loser in Game 2 – as the final stumbling block to a league championship title.

The Villa Clara Orangemen came from behind to overwhelm the Ciego de Avila Tigers and its star lefty Maikel Folch 10-3 on Sunday. The win gives last year’s league runners-up a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven Eastern Division Cuban baseball league finals.

Complete Cuban Playoffs Coverage

Ray Otero can be reached at: elistas@baseballdecuba.com

Grovatt was Virginia’s top hitter during a 3-1 week which included a series win at No. 2 Florida State – UVa’s first-ever series win against the Seminoles.

Boston College’s Dean tossed eight shutout innings against No. 13 Miami on Friday night in a 3-0 win.

Dean, a junior from Naugatuck, Conn., dominated the game, confusing and jamming batters throughout the night. Dean allowed six hits and had a season-high nine strikeouts, one shy of his career high. Only three runners were able to get into scoring position with Dean on the mound.

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

Casey Lytle, RF, Kansas
Lytle went 7-for-13 with six runs scored and four doubles in a three-game series at No. 1 LSU. He had 16 plate appearances against the Tigers while reaching base 10 times (.625 on-base percentage). He also drove in four runs in the series as Kansas upset the nation’s top-ranked team.

Brett Bochy, RHP, Kansas
Bochy earned a pair of saves in KU’s series victory over No. 1 LSU. Bochy was called on to pitch 3 2/3 innings of relief, and he retired 11 of the 13 men he faced, including five via strikeout. He allowed no runs and no hits. Bochy also pitched during KU’s midweek win over Tabor, and recorded three strikeouts in an inning of relief.

BIG WEST BASEBALL CONFERENCE

Joey Terdoslavich, 3B, Long Beach State
Terdoslavich helped Long Beach State to a series victory over No. 21 Wichita State and hit .615 in four games to claim Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week honors.

Mario Hollands, LHP, UC Santa Barbara
Hollands tied the school’s single-game strikeout record WITH 16 in an 8-1 complete game victory against Northern Illinois to earn the Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week award.

BIG TEN CONFERENCE

Matt Dittman, 1B, Illinois
Dittman picks up his second career Player of the Week honor after batting .615 as the Illini went 2-2 at the Caravelle Resort Classic last week. The first-baseman slugged 1.000 and reached base at a .722 clip, combining for an OPS of 1.722.

Micah Johnson, 3B, Indiana
Johnson earns Player of the Week honors after batting .467 and slugging 1.267 for the Hoosiers last week. The freshman tallied multi-hit games in each of Indiana’s three contests, combining to score five runs and drive in eight on the strength of four home runs.

Matt Bischoff, RHP, Purdue
Bischoff picks up his second career Player of the Week honor after throwing eight shutout innings in Purdue’s 3-0 win over LeMoyne on Friday. The right-hander struck out a season-high 11 batters without allowing a walk.

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics

Junior Guerra (2-0) fanned 11 in seven superb frames as Sant Boi took the first game 8-1 on Saturday. The newcomer surrendered just a lone unearned score on four hits and a walk to pick up the win.

Jose Luis Riera and William Domero each smashed home runs for Sant Boi which peppered San Inazio pitching for 15 hits.

Reliever Jose Guanchez tossed two scoreless relief innings to seal the win.

Sant Boi overcame a 4-1 deficit in the second game on Sunday to complete the sweep with an 8-5 win to improve to 6-0 on the young season.

Rafael Rivas and Daniel Martinez scored a combined six runs and Jose Estebin Cruz (2-0) notched the win with a solid seven-inning outing.

VALENCIA SPLITS WITH VILADECANS
The Valencia Astros edged Viladecans 9-8 in their first meeting before getting routed 15-8 in the series finale.

Staff ace John Dunn (3-0) picked up the not-too-easy win. The American punched out nine in eight innings while giving up five runs and seven hits.

Sandel Cuevas drove in five runs on two hits, and Kevin Malone added a pair of RBIs for the surprising Astros.

Viladecans regrouped in a big way in the second game with a nine-run fourth to post a lopsided victory and salvage a doubleheader split.

Third baseman Denny Nino homered for Viladecans while Cuevas and Dunn went deep for Valencia.

Pol Llopis (1-1) scattered five runs and seven hits over five innings to garner his first win of the year.

NAVARRA SWEEPS VIGO
Juan Jose Lopez tossed a one-hitter and racked up 15 strikeouts as Navarra blanked the Vigo Halcones 5-0 in the first part of a doubleheader. Andres Casado (1-1) notched his first win of the season in the second game as Navarra held off a late rally by the Halcones to claim a 5-3 triumph.

PAMPLONA STOPS EL LLANO
Marcos Castillo tossed two-run ball over eight frames and Pamplona beat winless El Llano 8-2 in the first game this past weekend. Castillo (1-2) allowed six hits and struck out 13 to earn his first win of the young season. Pamplona finished off the sweep with an 18-8 victory in the second contest as Juan Redin (2-0) pitched four inning of relief to notch the win.

Photo courtesy of Diego Lazaro

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 13th year with its 2010 weekly surveys. Weekly polls will be circulated from Feb. 22-June 29 following the 64th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., and final CWS competition at historic Rosenblatt Stadium.

The poll voters come from 40 college baseball writers and related media persons from all across the nation. This week’s poll has representation by 10 different conferences among the 302 baseball-playing schools in the 2010 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 13 circuits in the surveys this season. Last year there were 17 different leagues (from 30
in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls.

For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.

Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 Virginia, Atlantic Coast 12-3 4
2 Arizona State, Pacific-10 15-0 3
3 Georgia Tech, ACC 13-1 5
4 Florida State, ACC 13-2 2
5 Texas, Big 12 13-3 6
6 LSU, Southeastern 13-2 1
7 TCU, Mountain West 12-2 8
8 Florida, SEC 11-3 7
9 Clemson, ACC 13-1 9
10 Louisville, Big East 14-1 10
11 Miami (Fla.), ACC 10-4 13
12 Coastal Carolina, Big South 15-2 12
13 UCLA, Pac-10 13-0 16
14 Arkansas, SEC 12-3 14
15 Oregon State, Pac-10 10-3 18
16 Oklahoma, Big 12 15-2 19
17 North Carolina, ACC 12-4 11
18 Vanderbilt, SEC 14-1 21
19 Rice, Conference USA 10-715
20 Kentucky, SEC 13-2 24
21 UC Irvine, Big West 9-6 22
22 Mississippi, SEC 12-4 20
23 Alabama, SEC 12-1 27
24 South Carolina, SEC 11-4 28
25 East Carolina, C-USA 8-6 17
26 Texas A&M, Big 12 13-3 29
27 Kansas, Big 12 11-4 NR
28 Stanford, Pac-10 7-4 25
29 Cal State Fullerton, Big West 7-7 26
30 Southeastern Louisiana, Southland 15-1 NR

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Arizona (11-4), Canisius
(10-5), Connecticut (7-4), Duke (11-4), Florida Gulf Coast (10-4),
Houston (8-5), Kansas State (13-2), Liberty (11-2), NC State (11-4), New
Mexico (13-5), Ohio State (9-4), Oklahoma State (8-2), Oregon (12-6),
South Alabama (12-6), Southern Miss (10-4), The Citadel (11-3), VMI
(14-1), Washington State (10-3), Western Kentucky (12-4), Wichita State
(10-3).

Dropped Out: Ohio State (23), NC State (30).

By conference: SEC 8, ACC 6, Big 12 4, Pac-10 4, Big West 2, C-USA 2,
Big East 1, Big South 1, MWC 1, Southland 1.

Source: National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Independent Teams from the Atlantic, Golden, Northern, Frontier, Can Am, American Association, United and Continental Leagues will be in attendance.  For more information on this tryout please email questions to: worldfreeagenttryout@gmail.com

Tryout Schedule:

Friday, April 9th
3:00 – Registration Time (Please enter on the 3rd base side)
4:00 – Pro Combine Tryout

Saturday, April 10th
3:00 – Invitation Showcase Game

Players may begin negotiations with any team once tryout is concluded on Saturday.

The cost of the tryout is as follows:

- AA affiliated experience (FREE)
- Rookie-A+ experience ($60)
- No affiliated pro experience ($120)

All Participants are encouraged to join The American Baseb Institute to get into the best shape possible before the season. Currently minor leaguers and indy prospects are working out daily, while getting maximum exposure as the 2010 season approaches.

Email ABI for further details info@americanbaseballinstitute.com

For more information about the World Free Agent Tryout please click here.

The CPBL All-Stars topped the Dodgers 5-2 in the opening game of the friendly series Friday, while a scheduled second contest was canned Saturday due to constant heavy rain. As a result, the series ended in a 1-all deadlock.

The Dodgers totaled 11 runs and 16 hits, while thr CPBL squad tallied just one run on nine hits with one error under ideal weather conditions at Kaohsiung County Stadium in front of a reported 20,000 raucous fans.

Dodgers star Manny Ramirez and Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing began the festivities. However, Josh Towers started the game for the National League club instead of Taiwanese pitcher Kuo Hong-chih who was held out of the game due to a sore elbow.

The first edition of the invitational tournament will also include defending German champion Heidenheim Heidekoepfe, the Paderborn Untouchables and the HSV Stealers.

Current Buchbinder skipper Martin Helmig previously won several league titles with Paderborn, while former Dortmund Wanderers head coach Jens Hawlitzky is now calling the shots for the Hamburg-based Stealers.

For more information, visit the Buchbinder Legionaere club website.

DORTMUND RE-SIGNS AMERICAN SLUGGER
The Dortmund Wanderers have re-signed catcher Trevor Howell for the upcoming season. The 26-year-old Californian batted .411 in 24 games last season with four home runs and 21 RBIs.

Photo courtesy of HSV Stealers

Pedroso gave the Cowboys his best performance of the postseason with a seven-hit shutout during his eight innings of work, while struck out three and walked two. Four of those hits were by two batters, veterans Carlos Tabares and Alexander Malleta, as Pedroso worked his way to earn his second consecutive postseason win.

Precisely Carlos Tabares made a costly error in the first inning that allowed La Habana to score first. Dennis Laza started the game with a fly to center that Tabares lost in the sun allowing the runner to arrive safe to second. Lions’ starter Arleys Sánchez, who was pitching in a six days rest, struck out the next hitter Orlando Lavandera and retired Michel Rodríguez in grounder to short, but the lefty walked Enesto Molinet putting runners in first and third and allowed Dennis García double to right-center for the first two runs of the game.

Arleys made improvements and pitched well the next three innings allowing only one single. The lefthander went on to retire the side in order in the third and four innings.

But in the top of the fifth he got in trouble. Shortstop Michael González doubled to left to start the inning; Arleys obligated Laza to popup to left for the first out of the inning, but catcher Frank C. Morejón made a pass ball moving González to third. In that situation Orlando Lavandera hit a line drive to left allowing the runner to score in a sacrifice fly. La Habana was 3-0 on top.

The last scoring hit of the afternoon and the last of the game was a solo homer by Habana’s cleanup hitter Ernesto Molinet in the top of the six against Arleys, the shot gave the Cowboys a 4-0 lead in the game.

The lefthander pitched well during six innings, allowing four runs – one earned – on five hits while struck out three and walked one for his second loss of the 2010 postseason.

La Habana’s closer, Jonder Martínez, completed the shutout pitching the ninth inning and retiring the side in order to end the game.

Game 4 is Sunday afternoon (1:00 pm) at Latinoamericano Stadium, with Yulieski González – loser of Game 1 of the series – facing Industriales’ Alexander Carrera or Armando Rivero.

Contact Ray Otero at: elistas@baseballdecuba.com

Photo courtesy of BaseballdeCuba