Hard-hitting Venezuela takes on Rosario-led Puerto Rico in 3rd-place tilt

While the Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic) and Charros de Jalisco (Mexico) prepare for their Caribbean Series championship game on Friday at 10 p.m. ET at Mexicali’s Nido de las ?guilas Stadium, the teams they defeated in the tournament’s semifinal round – Cardenales de Lara (Venezuela) and Indios de Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) – will face each other tonight, also at 10 p.m. ET, in the third-place game.

After dropping their respective semifinal contests – the Venezuelan club to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to Mexico – both the Cardenales and Mayagüez come into the third-place game with records of 2-3 in the event.

Venezuela has relied on its offense in the tournament so far. Its 25 runs scored are second only to the Leones, managed by Albert Pujols, with 26, while Henry Blanco’s club leads the field in team batting average (.271), OBP (.328) and slugging (.359).

The Cardenales’ top performers at the plate include Alexi Amarista (.368 AVG., one home run) and Eduardo García (also .368). Hernán Pérez, Rangel Ravelo, José Rondón and Danry Vásquez have driven in four runs each, tied for the lead in RBIs in the tournament along with Mayagüez’s Eddie Rosario.

The Cardenales’ pitching also boasts the tournament’s second-best team ERA at 1.60. The club comes into Thursday with a +11-run differential, with its three losses coming by a total of just four runs.

Puerto Rico has leaned on Rosario and Isán Díaz (.400 AVG) on offense in its two wins. However, Mayagüez is last in the tournament in team batting average (.199) and second to last in team ERA (4.81).

In the teams’ first matchup in the round-robin stage on Monday, the Cardenales defeated Mayagüez 10-5, with the Venezuelan club overcoming a 5-1 deficit to score nine unanswered runs from the fourth inning on.