PANAMA — Nicaragua will finally say present in a World Baseball Classic.
Thanks to the dominance of their starter Osman Gutiérrez, who allowed only one run in six innings, the Nicaraguan team beat Brazil 3-1 on Wednesday night to secure the last ticket to next year’s tournament.
The Brazilian squad, led by former major leaguer Steve Finley and seeking its second classification, was eliminated.
Panama sealed its ticket on Tuesday by defeating the South American team 4-0 precisely.
Gutiérrez allowed one run, three hits and struck out five to earn his second victory in the tournament played at the Rod Carew Stadium in the Panamanian capital.
Nicaragua, which was shipwrecked in the previous two qualifiers and was not invited to the first two editions of the Clásico, will play it for the first time. He went ahead from the first inning with two RBIs by Elmer Reyes and Dwight Britton.
Brazil cut back with one in the bottom of the fourth, scored by veteran Leonardo Reginatto and thanks to an error by third baseman Milkar Pérez, but Nicaragua added the third in the seventh.
The Brazilians threatened two on base in the eighth and one out, but Christian Lopes grounded for a double play off reliever Joaquin Acuña, who then struck out the final three batters for the save.
Previously, Pakistan, New Zealand and Argentina had been eliminated.
Great Britain and the Czech Republic qualified from a tie held in Germany in September. Twenty teams will participate in the fifth edition of the World Classic to be played in March.
