Venezuela triumph in baseball tournament of fifth Alba Games
Venezuela B defeated Venezuela A, 2-1, at Estadio Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro in Macuto to win the fifth Alba Games (Juegos del Alba) on home soil.
A base hit by designated hitter Brandon Linares scored the tie-break runners in the bottom of the eighth to end the game.
Cuba beat Nicaragua, 10-7, and claimed the bronze medal.
The Alba Games, also known as Friendship Games (Juegos de la Amistad), is a multi-sport event inspired by the Olympic Games. Cuba hosted the first edition in 2005, and the event has grown from 18 participating countries to an expected 33 in 2023. The WBSC sanctions the baseball tournament, played according to the seven-inning international format.
ALBA is the acronym for Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de America (Bolivarian Alliance for the People of America), a cooperation agreement signed in 2004 between countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was intended to fight poverty and social exclusion.
ALBA includes 10 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Granada, Nicaragua, San Cristobal and Nieves, San Vicente and las Granadinas, Santa Lucia and Venezuela.