Cuban baseball team makes successful debut at Little League World Series

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 16 (ACN) The Bombarderos of Santa Clara made their cannons sound in the US city of Williamsport by defeating the Czech Republic 4-1 in their debut at the Little League World Series.

On the grass of the Volunteer Stadium, Everaldo Machado's disciples were dominated by right-hander Illia Kolomoiets for 5.2 innings where they received 10 strikeouts, until the uprising broke out.

Cuban left-hander Deivy Hernandez accepted a double from the shortstop Dominik Maly in the same first inning that brought a teammate to the plate and gave the Europeans an early advantage.

In the fifth inning, a pair of consecutive hits by Cuban Leonardo Junco and Marlon Herrera, the latter to bring two runners home, gave the victory to the Cubans.

One inning later, the Cuban team scored the two runs that sunk their opponents, thanks to a spectacular double robbery and an unstoppable run off the bat of shortstop Adrian Fuentes.

The next game for Cubans will be on Monday against the winner of the game between Australia and Chinese Taipei. The Asians won their first game yesterday against Canada 8-0.

According to the rules, the event, where a total of 20 teams are participating, is a double elimination event, so the contending teams that suffer two failures will have to return home.