Cuba U-18 Team​

Ciudad Constitución, Mexico, November 6 (JIT)-- Alberto Hecheverría gave himself a solid relief performance, his teammates activated the offense and Cuba defeated Panama 6x2 on the second day of the U-18 Pan American Baseball Championship of Baja California 2022.

"The teachers gave me the confidence to assume this responsibility," said the right-hander, who took the mound in the very first chapter, when left-handed starter Miguel Flores was out of control and admitted two runs.

"I relied a lot on the breaks, focused on the purpose of recovering from the initial defeat," Hecheverría, who worked 4.2 scoreless innings with just two hits, explained to JIT.

His presence seemed to inspire the Island's offense, which one day after showing debts that led to the 1x2 loss to host Mexico, scored six hits, three of them in the third act.

Then the Panamanian starter Manuel Moreno took a triple from Boris Madrazo and singles from Samuel Martí and Marcos Argudín, and Yandro Hernández hit another against substitute Emmanuel Vargas, to put Cuba ahead 3x2.

Applauded from the stands of the Rodolfo "Fito" Montaño stadium, the Antilleans stepped on the plate twice more in the next chapter and celebrated again in the sixth.

With no home runs, Orisbel Borges continued Hecheverría's dominance and the won-lost balances of Cuba and Panama were evened at 1-1 in Group A.

"We have taken an important step in the goal of qualifying for next year's World Championship," said Cuban director Severo Crespo about the four slots to be distributed in this competition.

"The boys knew how to internalize the call to bounce back, even coming out below, and that multiplies the motivation, which was already superior, he added, satisfied with the variations introduced in the lineup.

In the A group, Mexico remained undefeated in two games after defeating Nicaragua 13x4, which lost for the second consecutive time.

Cuba rests this Sunday, when Mexico will play Panama in La Paz, the main venue of the tournament.