On March 18th , the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation announced on its social media profile “X” (formerly Twitter) the roster of the Las Tunas Leñadores (Leñadores) that will participate in the 2025 Baseball Champions League Americas from April 8 to 13. The Antilleans also announced its lineup for this afternoon’s game vs the Pirates of Santa María.
The event will take place at the Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium, home of the Diablos Rojos del México, champions and representatives of the host country in this tournament, which will officially began in Yucatán in 2023, which saw the North American team Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks take home the crown.
The Leñadores will have 24 players, 11 of whom are from the team that won the 63rd Serie Nacional and 13 are reinforcements (three of whom participated with Las Tunas in the last Liga Élite). The Leñadores maintained the base of the team bringing along players like the Alarcón brothers (Yordanis and Yosvani), the Baldoquín brothers (Roberto and Jean Lucas), as well as Rafael Viñales and Denis Peña.
The Cuban will make up part of Group B in the tournament and will debut on today against the Santa Maria Pirates (Curaçao). A day later, they will face the Kane County Cougars of the American Association of Professional Baseball (United States). Group A includes the Chinandega Tigers (Nicaragua), the Florida Titans (Puerto Rico), and the host team (México City).
It will be a round robin tournament with the winner of each group facing the runner-up of each bracket in the semifinals. The winner of those games will compete for the title on Monday the 13th in Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium.
Lineup vs Santa Maria Pirates:
- Roel Santos CF
- Luis Mateo SS
- Yoelkis Guibert RF
- Yosvani Alarcón DH
- Rafael Viñales 1B
- Roberto Baldoquín 2B
- Yordanis Alarcón 3B
- Andrys Pérez C
- Yuniesky Larduet LF
P: Andy Vargas
Las Tunas roster for the WBSC Baseball Champions League:
Catchers (3):
Yosvani Alarcón
Rafael Viñales
Andrys Pérez
Infielders (6):
Denis Peña
Yordanis Alarcón
Jean Lucas Baldoquín
Roberto Suliban Baldoquín
Luis Vicente Mateo
Tailon Sánchez
Outfielders (4):
Yuniesky Larduet
Héctor Castillo
Yoelkis Guibert
Roel Santos
Pitchers (11):
Frank Luis Medina
Dariel Góngora
Yoennis Yera
Andy Vargas
Yadián Martínez
Yankiel Mauris
Alberto Pablo Civil
Albert Valladares
Keniel Ferraz
Rodolfo Díaz
Frank Abel Álvarez