The talented slugger from Matanzas, Cuba Yadir Drake went yard in the second inning to account for the Leones de Yucatán’s only run in their 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, the 2022 American Association Champions leaving the Mexican squad 0-2 in the competition.
Drake who leads the tournament with two longballs is also hitting a solid .375 on the tournament. On the evening the North American team’s came via a Thomas Dillon single and a Dexter Sam double in the second inning. For Fargo-Moorhead Colten Davis and Mitchell Veraburg (the winner on the evening) combined two hold Yucatán to eight hits and struck out four.
¡ÉSTE HOMBRE SIGUE ENCENDIDO!🔥🫡👊🏼
Black Panther desforra a doña blanca con tremendo tablazo por todo el izquierdo🙌🏼😤#UnSoloEquipo🦁 pic.twitter.com/FIEfw8EcpA
— Leones de Yucatán (@leonesdeyucatan) September 30, 2023
Cuban-Americans JC Escarra (2-1) and Josh Fuentes (4-0) also saw action on the evening. Escarra is leading the tournament with an .800 batting average. Wilmer Ríos, who took the loss on the evening started the game for Yucatán and went only three in which he gave up two earned runs and fanned a batter.
Yucatán will face Granma tonight at 10 PM, with Wilber Reyna toeing the rubber for the Cubans, while Yucatán will counter with a hurler yet to be determined. Should Cuba win tonight and Fargo-Moorhead who is beating Barranquilla 8-0 hold on that would leave each team with a 2-1 record and the teams would have to go to a TQB (Team Quality Balance) tiebreaker. Should Yucatán win it would face Granma again in the third place game while Fargo-Moorhead and Barranquilla would square off once again for the tournament title.