WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier historical preview: Day 2 match-ups

Day two of the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier, which will award one ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, takes place on Tuesday, 1 June, at St Lucie's Clover Park and The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, in Florida. Here's a historical preview of the four games scheduled on the second day of group play.

Nicaragua - Puerto Rico (Group A)
· These nations most recently met in a major competition at the 2019 Pan American Games, where Puerto Rico beat Nicaragua 7-3 in the preliminary round.
· Puerto Rico won the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (qualifier for 2019 Pan American Games), despite losing their final round-robin game 10-9 against Nicaragua (10 innings).
· Nicaragua's most recent win over Puerto Rico in a world level tournament was almost 33 years ago: 6-5 in the 1988 World Cup preliminary round.
· Nicaragua and Colombia are the only teams still without a home run in this Baseball Americas Qualifier.

Dominican Republic - United States (Group A)
· These nations also met at the American qualifying tournament for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where United States beat Dominican Republic 12-2 in the preliminary round (8 innings).
· These nations most recently met in a major competition at the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament, where United States beat Dominican Republic 10-8 in the preliminary round.
· Dominican Republic's most recent victory against United States was 7-5 in the first group phase of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. USA took revenge by beating Dominican Republic 6-3 in the final match of second group stage.
· United States' Luke Williams had three runs on three hits in their opener. No other player crossed the plate as often as Williams did.
· Dominican Republic's Raul Valdés faced 25 batters against Puerto Rico, most of all pitchers on Day 1.

Canada - Cuba (Group B)
· These nations most recently met in a major competition at the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament, where Canada beat Cuba 3-0 in their preliminary round opening game.
· These nations also met at the American qualifying tournament for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where Cuba beat Canada 9-0 in the final round.
· Canada and Cuba have met three times at the Olympic Games, with Cuba winning on all three occasions. At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Cuba beat Canada twice en route to their third Olympic gold medal: 5-2 in the preliminary round and 8-5 in the semi-finals. At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Cuba beat Canada 7-6 in the preliminary round.
· Canada won the 2011 Pan American Games despite losing 9-5 to Cuba in the preliminary round.
· Only Venezuela's Carlos Pérez (4) has more RBI's in this Baseball Americas Qualifier than Canada's Jacob Robson (3).

Colombia - Venezuela (Group B)
· Venezuela beat Colombia in the South American Olympic qualifying tournament for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Venezuela (1st) and Colombia (4th) both finished in the top four to qualify for the Americas qualifying tournament. Both nations were eliminated during that competition.
· On 25 July 2018, Colombia beat Venezuela 7-3 at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (qualifier for 2019 Pan American Games).
· Three-time Baseball World Cup winners Venezuela won all their 12 World Cup games against Colombia. Venezuela only won more World Cup games against Mexico (17) and Panama (18) than against Colombia (12).
· Of the nine home runs on Day 1 of the Americas qualifier in Florida, three were hit by Venezuelan players (most out of any team): Carlos Pérez, Hernan Pérez and Robinson Chirinos.
· Carlos Pérez has a tournament leading four RBI's in this Baseball Americas Qualifier.
· Colombia are one of two teams still without a homer in this Baseball Americas Qualifier, alongside Nicaragua.
· Colombia's Sugar Ray Marimón (9) leads this Baseball Americas Qualifier in strikeouts.