Mexico closed out its mixed Baseball 5 campaign at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games with a bronze medal, defeating Kenya 13-4, 2-3, 7-2 in the third-place match on Tuesday, and five of the players and coaches wearing the national team’s colors came from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Sinaloahoy reported.
The bronze gives Mexico its second medal of the Games, arriving hours after swimmer Daniel Saborio took third in the 400-meter freestyle, according to lineadirectaportal.com.
How Mexico Beat Kenya for the Bronze
Mexico opened the match with control, taking the first set 13-4. Kenya answered in the second, winning it 3-2 and forcing a decisive third set. There, Mexico closed it out 7-2 to secure the podium spot, all three set scores confirmed independently by Sinaloahoy and losnoticieristas.com.
¡CIERRE PERFECTO! ¡MÉXICO SE SUBE AL PODIO! 🇲🇽🥉🔥 La selección mexicana de béisbol 5 conquista el bronce en los Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud Dakar 2026. ¡Una medalla para celebrar con todo el país! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/aZYEKWwfEU
The result carried extra weight because the two teams had already met in group play, where Kenya won in two sets, losnoticieristas.com reported. Tuesday’s match was effectively a rematch, and Mexico flipped the outcome.
The Sinaloa Roster Behind the Medal
The Mexican squad was built around five Sinaloans: head coach Tania González of Culiacán, players Abril Martínez and Michelle Valenzuela, also from Culiacán, and Jacob Rodríguez and Carlos Mercado of Mazatlán, losnoticieristas.com reported. Sinaloahoy identified the same five names as the Sinaloa representation on the team.
Lineadirectaportal.com reported that they drove in 13 of Mexico’s 23 runs in the bronze match, more than half of the team’s total offense in the game.
A First Podium for Mexico in Baseball 5
The medal is historic for the program: Baseball 5 made its debut on the Youth Olympic program at this edition of the Games, making Tuesday’s bronze the first podium finish for a Mexican team in the discipline, losnoticieristas.com reported.
Mexico’s path to the bronze match went through group games against France, Kenya and Turkey, followed by a semifinal loss to China Taipei that sent the team into the third-place game, according to losnoticieristas.com.
Mexico’s Medal Picture in Dakar
With the Baseball 5 bronze added to Saborio’s swimming medal, both won on November 3, Mexico sits in 41st place on the overall medal table, tied with Slovakia, lineadirectaportal.com reported. For Sinaloa, the result marks direct representation on a podium at the youth Olympic stage — a coach and four players from the state formed the core of the team that beat Kenya.
Baseball 5’s arrival on the Youth Olympic program in Dakar 2026 gave Mexico a new avenue for medals, and the Sinaloa-heavy squad delivered the country’s first in the sport.
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