Granma baseball team qualifies for second round of Serie Nacional

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 30 (acn) Granma reached the direct qualifying area to the second round of the Cuban baseball championship, when combining its victory over Santiago de Cuba with Holguin´s loss to Pinar del Rio.

With offensive of 12 hits and the seventh win of the season for the ace Lazaro Blanco, Granma won 8-1 to move from fourth place to Holguin, which lost 12-4 to Pinar del Rio.
Vladimir Baños took the win and Reidel Alvarez hit a homer for the cause of the current national runners-up, who are away from qualifying places but still have a mathematical chance to access the next stage.
Ciego de Avila was consolidated in the second seat when beating Industriales 7-5 in 11 innings, with the sixth win of the season for talented Liomil Gonzalez in relieving role and homer by shortstop Yorbis Borroto.
Victor V. Mesa hit a grand slam to lead the unstoppable leader Matanzas to a 7-2 victory over Villa Clara, while Sancti Spiritus defeated 4-3 Camagüey.
Dayron Riera achieved his eighth win of the season and Luis Angel Sanchez hit a homer in the 6-4 victory of Guantanamo over Las Tunas, while Isla de la Juventud fed their hopes of qualifying when beating 5-1 Cienfuegos, and Artemisa overcame 6- 5 Mayabeque in a purely procedural game .
After these results, Matanzas (36-3) leads the National Baseball Series, followed by Ciego de Avila (26-15), Villa Clara (21-15), Granma (23-17), Holguin (21-17) Guantanamo (22-18), Industriales (21-19), Las Tunas (20-19), Camagüey (20-20), Isla de la Juventud (19-19), Pinar del Río (16-19), Artemisa (17-24), Cienfuegos (16-25), Santiago de Cuba (13-27), Sancti Spiritus (13-27) and Mayabeque (8-29).