Cuba-USA baseball friendly match to kick off today

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 2 (acn) The Cuban baseball team will start today its traditional friendly match against the always talented US university squad, which on this occasion will be of five games in North Carolina, USA.

The matches between baseball teams of both countries resumed in 2012 and the United States appear ahead with balance of 19 wins and 15 losses, having won five of the previous seven series, including the last four consecutively.
As expected, the five games will be held on successive days and today's first match will take place at the LP Frans Stadium, in the town of Hickory, while tomorrow they will move to Charlotte.
For Thursday, the venue will be the Durham Bull Athletic Park and on Friday they will play in the National Training Complex, in Cary, to return on Saturday to the Durham Park.
The Caribbean side comes from playing 15 games in the Can-Am League, with record of eight wins and seven losses, in a contest also used as training for the baseball tournament of the 2019 Pan American Games of Lima, Peru.
Against the American university squad, Cubans can´t count with right-hander pitcher Norge Carlos Vera, infielder Orlando Acebey and outfielder Yoelkis Cespedes, who abandoned the team while participating in the Can-Am League.
These five games will be defining for Cuban manager Rey Anglada and his coaching staff in order to choose the team that will finally compete in Lima 2019, to which must join other players like utility Yurisbel Gracial and LHP Livan Moinelo, who play with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Japanese Professional League (NPB).