Astros defeats CBS Barcelona and sets course for the European Championship in Croatia

The double game ended with a clear victory for the Valencians that they found no opposition from the Catalans to deploy their game and, in addition, served as a filming so that the pitchers could take turns on the mound and warm up their engines for the next commitment that the team has to face, the Confederation Cup in Croatia starting on the 7th.

The first game started in the second inning, with a powerful home run of 3 runs with the signature of Exicardo Cayones, recent and valuable addition to the Astros roster. In the third inning, the Valencian battery once again showed its power with two new home runs, one by Michel Rodríguez (2 runs) and another by Decena. Donnels’ career would complete the inning, who in a wild pitch scored the seventh on the scoreboard. .

The changes made to the Catalan defense had no effect and thus, in the fifth, a sacrifice fly by E. Rodríguez allowed Ochoa to score and in the sixth, a movement not allowed on the mound (balk) by the Catalan pitcher, having bases full, it would raise another run to the Astros marker, to end with the one scored by Rondón. The game ended by a difference in the seventh inning, 10-0 for Astros.

Los Valencian pitchers, Jorge Balboa, in 4 innings and Engelbert Álvarez, in 3, they had a brilliant and calm performance. They had no problems eliminating the opposing batsmen and solidly supported by their entire defense, they managed to end the match prematurely and reserve strength for the imminent European match.

In this sense, we spoke with Jorge Balboa to find out his opinion: “In this game I had the pitches counted with the idea of ​​arriving fresh for the first game on Wednesday in Croatia, for the weekend and for the following week that we will play against the Marlins . So far I am happy with my performance and I feel very comfortable in the team, we are very closeThe defense makes everything very easy for you and the receivers are of a high level, we are a very solid block. Hopefully we can continue like this all season and manage to contribute to achieving the objectives that manager Juan García has in mind for this year”.

Some objectives that are high but that are perfectly in line with the quality of the Valencian team, not in vain, last season they won the title in the SM el Rey Cup, the European Championship and finished runners-up in the SBL.

He The second game of the day went on for nine innings, but it had no complications for the Astros. They managed to hit 11 hits by 5 for the Catalan team and although there were several scoreless games, the 6 runs they scored in the fourth inning dismantled Barcelona’s approach, since they were mainly due to errors from the mound. The only 2 runs achieved by the Catalans came in the eighth, but they did not put the Valencian team in trouble. Finished 8-2 to Astros.

The pitchers also took turns successfully on the mound, Torres (6 innings), Mazzocchi (3) and Martín (1), with the same idea as in the first meeting, the reserve of forces for the week that begins in Europe.

With these results, Astros remain second in overall standings behind Marlins and both teams take a break from the national league to play the European competition, Confederation Cup 2023, which begins on Wednesday, June 7 in Karlovac, Croatia.

Astros begins their participation on the same day 7 at 10 am against the Belgians Hoboken. The tournament will have two qualifying groups. Group A includes: Astros de Valencia (Spain), hosts BK Olimpija (Croatia), Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium) and Vienna Wanderers (Austria). In group B: Flyers Baseball and Softball Team (Switzerland), Les Lions de Savigny sur Orge (France) and Tenerife Marlins (Spain). After the qualifying phase, the first two teams in each group will play the semifinals on Saturday 10 and the final will be held on Sunday 11 at 5:00 p.m.

He The winning team of the Confederation Cup will get a place for their Federation in the Champions Cup next season. All matches can be followed live, game by game, on the WBSC Europe website and streaming on the WBSC Europe YouTube channel.