CAN-AM: Champions Close Out International Series With Cuba

Posted on By Richard A. Whittaker

OTTAWA, ON – After losing big in game two of their series versus the Cuban national team, the Ottawa Champions stormed back to defeat the Cubans 6-3 in front of 5,466 fans in the series finale.

The Father’s Day festivities inside RCGT Park brought enthusiastic fans out in droves. Over the weekend, Champions supporters beat the heat all three days to put over 16,200 fans into the park over the series against Cuba.

They even featured loud Cuban fans singing, dancing, and banging drums all weekend long. The events made for a fun atmosphere inside the park.

The Cubans began the game on a good note. They scored three runs in the first two innings of the game, picking up where they left off last night.

With Julio Martinez on third base in the first, Luis Robert popped up to shortstop, but Daniel Bick fell down while making the putout. That allowed the Cubans to score their first run of the game.

Ottawa answered in the bottom half, but the top of the second proved to be trouble.

With the score now 1-1, Bick made an error at shortstop. After that, the national team sent five more batters to the plate and ended up with a 3-1 lead.

While the national team got off to a hot start, they weren’t the only Cubans having a good day.

Ottawa’s Cuban National Alexander Malleta tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, lacing a double into the left-centre gap to bring home two runs.

Then, Sebastien Boucher would take the game into his hands.

The Gatineau native gave his team the lead in the fifth, hammering a moonshot over the right field wall for a two-run homerun. The ball cleared the service road and sailed out of RCGT Park.

Malleta came through with another RBI single in the fifth, to give Ottawa a 6-3 lead.

Daniel Cordero (W, 4-1) picked up his fourth victory of the season. He allowed three runs in six innings, with just two earned. Cuban reliever Lazaro Blanco (L, 0-1) was saddled with the loss.

Notably, Champions second baseman Michael Mastroberti came up with a big performance in his first career professional start. He went 3-for-5 with a double, earning CKDJ Player of the Game.