U-23 World Cup: Cuba Unleashes Its Offense as Carmona Catches His Breath

Following the 26-6 mercy-rule victory over South Africa, Guillermo Carmona acknowledged that Cuba “caught a breath of fresh air” in the VI U-23 Baseball World Cup and stressed that, despite the opponent, “winning is always important.”

The manager of the Cuban squad, serving in his first stint leading a national team, commended the reaction of his players, “who knew how to bounce back from the setback in the first game,” and considered that the victory helps “take off a bit of pressure” ahead of the decisive games in Group B.

Cuba entered Soberanía National Stadium still nursing the wound of its debut, when it fell 2-3 in extra innings against South Korea, and desperately needed to return to winning ways to avoid losing ground in the race for one of the three Super Round spots.

The Caribbean offense responded with 13 hits and an avalanche of 26 runs, powered by the run-producing efforts of Carlos Nieto, Rafael de Jesús Álvarez, Anyelo Videt, and Carlos Chávez—the latter driving in four runs during a punishing outing against South African pitching.

Carmona admitted that the rival was “one of the weaker teams in the group,” but insisted that the challenge was logical and necessary: “It is important to win, regardless of who the opponent is,” stated the strategist, who noted that the victory allows the team to rebuild confidence before facing adversaries that will determine qualification.

While the offense failed to connect in the opener, the pitching staff once again delivered a solid performance: Riquelmi Odelín worked 3.2 innings, allowing three hits and five runs, before turning the ball over to Lee Andy Plumas, who finished the job following a rain delay.

“The pitching had performed well against South Korea,” recalled Carmona, who refrained from revealing who will start tomorrow’s matchup against Japan, as the coaching staff had not yet reached a final decision by the end of the day, though Randy Martínez is expected to take the mound.

Cuba will measure its strength against the defending world champions at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, in a clash that Carmona hopes will turn out “better” for the Cuban side and serve as a real benchmark for the team’s tournament aspirations.

Carmona did not hide his satisfaction with his first experience managing Team Cuba, describing it as “very good,” before proudly embracing the “warrior” nickname attributed to him. “Warriors have to be prepared for war,” stated the mentor, who arrived at this World Cup backed by leading Industrials to the championship title in the IV Elite League of Cuban Baseball.

The objective, Carmona said, remains clear: “to seek a strong result in order to bring joy to our people,” given that Cuban teams this year have struggled to stand out, and he hopes this squad can offer Cuban baseball the satisfaction of reaching the final round.

With today’s victory, Cuba re-enters the contention in Group B—where it shares the bracket with Japan, South Korea, Venezuela, and Great Britain—with only the top three teams advancing to the next phase of the tournament.