Cuba has won the 2013 World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The record world champion claimed the title at the international tournament, which is officially sanctioned by IBAF, with a 4-0 shutout over the Dutch national team on Sunday.
It was a tight game between the two rivals, but this time Cuba had the Dutch number. Wilber Perez and Rasiel Iglesias combined to keep the host to a mere three hits and four walks through nine innings. At the plate veterans Yulieski Gourriel and Eriel Sanchez broke a scoreless tie with RBI singles in the third. Alexander Malleta added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run double in the eighth.
Rob Cordemans took the loss, conceding four runs (2 ER) on 12 hits in 7 2/3 innings. David Bergman closed it out. The Dutch offense had their best opportunities to score in the first and in the sixth, when they left two men on with no respective one outs. Otherwise they were completely shut down.
Gourriel was named Most Valuable Player of the World Port Tournament after the game. He batted .304 in the event. Other prize winners were Malleta as home run king, Ismel Jimenez as best pitcher, Dwayne Kemp as best batter and most popular player, Stijn van der Meer as best rookie and Michael Duursma won the Donald Bax Press Award.
The 2013 Citrix World Port Tournament is being held every two years since its inaugural edition in 1985. This year it was played between June 30 and July 7 at Familie Stadium in Rotterdam. Chinese Taipei and Curacao also participated, but missed out on the championship game with losses to Cuba and the Netherlands on Saturday.
Complete Results:
Sunday, June 30, 2013:
Cuba 3 – Curacao 0
Netherlands 7 – Chinese Taipei 2
Monday, July 1, 2013:
Chinese Taipei 4 – Curacao 2
Cuba 0 – Netherlands 7
Tuesday, July 2, 2013:
Curacao 3 – Netherlands 2
Wednesday, July 3, 2013:
Curacao 2 – Chinese Taipei 5
Netherlands 0 – Cuba 4
Thursday, July 4, 2013:
Cuba 3 – Chinese Taipei 1
Friday, July 5, 2013:
Chinese Taipei 2 – Cuba 1
Netherlands 5 – Curacao 4
Saturday, July 6, 2013:
Curacao 0 – Cuba 11
Chinese Taipei 0 – Netherlands 3
Sunday, July 7, 2013:
Netherlands 0 – Cuba 4
Final Standings:
1) Cuba
2) Netherlands
3) Chinese Taipei
4) Curacao
All games between national teams have to be sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF).
