Dom Republic 13-3 Nicaragua: Rodríguez powers Dominican Republic to Super Round spot
In a lineup loaded with former Major Leaguers, it was the young guy turning heads on Wednesday.
Julio Rodríguez, the Dominican Republic’s star 20-year-old outfielder, belted two home runs and went 3-for-5 as his team clinched a berth in the Super Round with a 13-3 win over Nicaragua on the final day of Opening Round play at the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
With the final spot at the Super Round at stake for the winner of Wednesday’s Nicaragua-DR matchup, Nicaragua started on the right note with a run on two hits in the top of the first inning. The Dominican Republic answered quickly thanks to Rodríguez. After Emilio Bonifacio walked leading off the bottom of the first, Rodríguez connected on a two-run homer to put his team in front for good.
The Dominican Republic’s powerful offense was methodical, adding three runs in the third on a homer by Rodríguez’s fellow Seattle Mariners prospect Luis Liberato and four in the fourth in an inning headlined by Jeison Guzman’s two-run double.
In the seventh, Yefri Perez belted a two-out solo shot to left, and Rodríguez followed with his second blast of the day.
Nicaragua - who had given up 13 runs in the tournament prior to this game, most of all teams - mustered only two more runs on the afternoon, and when the Dominican Republic plated a pair in the eighth, the first on a monster homer over the batter’s eye in center field by veteran Juan Francisco, the game closed early due to the run difference rule.
The Dominican Republic moves on as the #2 team from Group A along with the United States, the group’s winner. Those two national teams will face Group B’s top finishers, Venezuela, and Canada in the two-day Super Round on Friday and Saturday in Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach.
