Another World Cup, Another Gold Medal For Cuba

Complete Coverage of USA Baseball World Cup Team

By John Manuel
October 27, 2003

The host nation of the 35th Baseball World Cup ran the table and won its 24th consecutive World Cup, dating back to 1951, with a 4-2 victory Saturday night against Panama. Cuba has won every World Cup it has participated in since '51 and has never finished lower than third.

Panama, meanwhile, set the stage for being the host of the Olympic qualifying tournament that begins this Friday with its best World Cup showing ever. The Panamanians, who finished third in Group B behind Japan and the United States in pool play, rallied in the medal round behind big league veterans like Rafael Medina, Olmedo Saenz and Ruben Rivera.

Panama also pitched better than expected in the medal round. Former Expos farmhand Len Picota, who also pitched in the independent Atlantic League as recently as 2001, pitched a complete-game shutout against Nicaragua in the quarterfinal. Medina, the team's ace, then held Japan scoreless over seven innings in the semifinal, and Rivera hit a three-run homer off reliever Takayuki Goto to give Panama a 4-1 victory.

However, Panama ran out of pitching against Cuba. Panama and Cuba were tied 2-2 through four innings of the gold-medal game, as Panama got solo homers from third baseman Luis Iglesias (who played for Kelowna in the Canadian Baseball League in 2003) and DH Audes De Leon. It was De Leon's fifth homer of the event.

However, Cuba already had knocked out Panamanian starter Elpidio Pinto, and Pecota came on in relief on two days' rest. He pitched five innings and gave up just three hits, but Cuba scratched out runs in the sixth and eighth innings to take a 4-2 lead.

Cuban righty Norge Vera, who had beaten Taiwan with seven shutout innings in the semifinal, came back on one day of rest in relief of Vicyohandri Odelin, a lefthander who got the start. Vera was money on short rest, allowing only one hits and one walk while striking out four to get the victory. Vera went 3-0, 1.19 in the tournament with 23 strikeouts and two walks in 23 innings. Left fielder Frederich Cepeda had three hits and two RBIs for Cuba, while second baseman Yulieski Gourriel had two hits and an RBI. They were two of the best hitters in the World Cup; Cepeda hit .406-4-9, leading Cuba in homers, while Gourriel hit .368-3-13.

Cuba went 9-0 overall in the tournament, with its closest shave coming in a surprise 4-3 victory against Brazil in the opener of the medal round. Brazil led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but Cuba rallied to win on a walk-off two-run homer by first baseman Kendrys Morales.

Japan beat Taiwan 7-3 to claim the bronze medal. Team USA, which lost in the medal-round opener 2-1 to Taiwan, beat Brazil (13-4) and Nicaragua (13-2) to finish in fifth place.