First-ever Junior Pan Am Games Cali 2021 opens, baseball set to begin today

First-ever Junior Pan Am Games Cali 2021 opens, baseball set to begin today
26/11/2021
Seven participating nations will compete in the inaugural youth Pan Am Games baseball competition. The gold medal game will be played on 2 December.

With a spectacular opening ceremony, the inaugural Junior Pan Am Games Cali 2021 in Colombia were officially officially opened yesterday at Pascual Guerrero Stadium. Today, (Friday 26 November) seven U-23 National Baseball Teams will begin the baseball competition at Estadio Edgar Rentería in Barranquilla, one of the venues of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2018.

World No. 6 Dominican Republic, No. 10 Venezuela, No. 11 Cuba, No. 14 Nicaragua, No. 15 Colombia and No. 21 Brazil will play a group stage from 26-29 November, with the top two nations in each group advancing to the semi-finals on 1 December. 

In Group A, Dominican Republic, host Colombia and Argentina will battle for the top two spots, while in Group B will play Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Brazil.

Three games will be played on Opening Day. Nicaragua and Venezuela will leadoff the tournament at 10 a.m. (all local time), Cuba will take on Brazil at 3 p.m., while Colombia will close the day facing Dominican Republic at 7:30 p.m.

The gold medal game will be played on 2 December.

See the full schedule, rosters, stats and standings of the tournament here.

Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic participated this past September in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico. Venezuela was crowned World Champion, while Colombia took the bronze medal in this competition.

The softball competition will open tomorrow, 27 November, with eight participiating teams.