LARA 10, ZULIA 4 IN ZULIA

Batting stars:  Jecksson Flores was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Joantgel Segovia was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Osman Marval was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Yordanys Linares was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Yonathan Mendoza was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Rene Reyes was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Raul Rivero pitched 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and no walks and striking out two.  Vicente Campos retired all five men he faced, striking out two.  Yapson Gomez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Oscar Campos was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Jorbit Vivas was 2-for-4.  Christian Fernandez pitched two shutout innings, giving up only a walk.

The game:  It was actually scoreless through four innings.  In the fifth, however, Lara broke through.  Segovia led off with a triple and Gabriel Moreno followed with an RBI single.  Moreno stole second and scored on Mendoza's double.  A popup was the first out, but then Cesar Izturis singled to put runners on the corners.  Linares then singled home a run and Flores doubled home another, making it 4-0 Lara.

Zulia cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning, as Grenny Cumana doubled and Campos hit a two-run homer.  In the seventh, however, Lara took control.  Two walks and a Linares single loaded the bases with none out.  Flores singled home one run, Marval singled home two, and a sacrifice fly made it 8-2 Lara.  Lara added two more in the eighth on singles by Mondoza and Deiner Lopez, an RBI double by Edward Barboza, and a sacrifice fly.  Zulia got single runs in the eighth and ninth but never threatened to get back into the game.

WP:  Vicente Campos (1-0).  LP:  Cesar Jimenez (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Lara had sixteen hits.  Everyone had at least one hit and six of their players had two.  Even the one substitute that used, Barboza, had a hit.  Thirteen of the hits were singles and the other three were doubles.

The wind was two miles an hour in from left.  Living where I do, where a fifteen mile an hour wind is considered normal, that sounds wonderful.

Record:  Zulia is 1-1, tied for third with three other teams, one game behind Caracas.

Next game:  Lara hosts Margarita this afternoon.