Early runs make the difference for the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 7, MEXICO 6 (HOME TEAM:  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

Mexico:  Luis Alfonzo Garcia was 2-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in three.  Daryle Ward was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring twice.  Zelous Wheeler (Yankees) was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third.

Dominican Republic:  Francisco Peguero (Baltimore) was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring twice and driving in one.  Eugenio Velez (Milwaukee) was 2-for-3 with two home runs, driving in three.  Claudio Vargas struck out six in six shutout innings, allowing two hits and one walk.

The game:  Julio Lugo singled in a run in the second to put the Dominican Republic ahead 1-0.  They seemingly took control of the game with a four-run third, highlighted by a Velez two-run homer, leading 5-0 at that point.  Velez homered again in the sixth to make it 6-0.  Mexico got back into the game in the seventh, getting an RBI double by Garcia and a two-run homer by Sebastian Valle (Philadelphia) to cut the lead to 6-3, but in the bottom of the seventh, Emilio Bonifacio (Kansas City) singled, stole second, and scored on a Perez single to make it 7-3.  Mexico struck for three more in the eighth as Wheeler homered and Garcia delivered a two-run double.  That put the tying run on second with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning.  Mexico went down in order in the ninth.

PUERTO RICO 5, VENEZUELA 4 (HOME TEAM:  PUERTO RICO)

Twins:  Eddie Rosario (Puerto Rico) was 1-for-4 with a run.  Kennys Vargas (Puerto RIco) was 1-for-2 with an RBI.  Daniel Ortiz (Puerto Rico) was 0-for-0 with a walk.

Venezuela:  Alberto Callaspo (Oakland) was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer.  Mario Lisson (San Francisco) was 1-for-1 with a walk and a run.

Puerto Rico:  Randy Ruiz was 3-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Osvaldo Martinez (Dodgers) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run.  Jonathan Albaladejo pitched four innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

The game:  In the bottom of the first, Rosario singled and scored on a double by Ruiz to put Puerto Rico in the lead 1-0.  Venezuela tied it in the fourth on a single, a walk, and an error.  In the bottom of the fourth, Puerto Rico got an RBI single by Luis Figueroa, a run-scoring double by Martin Maldonado (Milwaukee), and a sacrifice fly to go ahead 4-1.  Martinez homered in the fifth to make it 5-1.  In the seventh, Venezuela got back into it.  With two out and none on, Lisson singled, Ezequiel Carrera (Detroit) singled, and Callaspo hit a three-run homer to cut the lead to 5-4.  That was as close as they could get, however, as Venezuela never got the tying run past first base.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS

Venezuela, 3-1
Dominican Republic, 2-2
Mexico, 2-2
Puerto Rico, 2-2
Cuba, 1-3

Cuba is eliminated from the Caribbean Series.  The remaining four teams go into a single-elimination playoff.  The Dominican Republic plays Mexico tonight and Puerto Rico plays Venezuela Friday night, with the winners meeting Saturday night.