The FEPCUBE team fell in its exhibition game this Saturday, January 18, against the Miami Dade College Sharks (MDC Sharks) at the Kendall Campus. With a roster armed with 20 players FEPCUBE once again fielded a team of professional baseball players totally independent from the rule of the Cuban Baseball Federation.
Outfielder Guillermo Heredia, World Series champion with the Atlanta Braves in 2021, was charged with throwing out the pitch of the game, a pitch that was caught by FEPCUBE manager, Brayan Peña.
Entering the game, in the first inning the locals put two runs on the scoreboard at the expense of starter Pedro Echemendia who was hit hard by his rivals, including a home run in the opening stanza. Echemendía worked until the third episode after recovering a bad first frame.
Former Tampa Bay Rays prospect Sandy Gastón entered the fourth inning where he allowed two more runs via Miami Dade’s second home run of the game. With a 4-0 deficit in the FEPCUBE’s came to life notching four runs in the top of the sixth episode. All runs came without a single extra bases. At this point in the game the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation team only had one hit.
The tying run came thanks to an RBI single by Yordis Perera (former New York Mets prospect) to right field that brought Carlos Pellegrín (former Detroit Tigers prospect) to the plate. Fepcube did not score any more runs in that inning due to a baserunning error by Marcos Romero that ended the four run rally in that inning.
Yunesky Maya took charge of the mound in the last episode and despite any solid connections from any of the batters, he allowed the game winning and sealed FEPCUBE’s fate with a 5-4 walk-off defeat. For FEPCUBE Andy Valdés who hit a double to left-center in the first inning was the hardest hit ball on the day for the Cuban-American squad.
This was the third game in the history of the young Federation and was its loss. The first victory was precisely against Miami-Dade in a game where figures of the stature of Jorge Soler and Yuli Gurriel took the field. The second victory was against the Houston Apollos, where Leonys Martín hit a homered in the contest. What’s next for FEPCUBE? Only time will tell.