Veracruz tops German Nationals, 6-1, in Tucson

The Veracruz Rojo Aguilas have been training in Tucson, Arizona this month, along with the Tijuana Toros and Campeche Piratas.  On Saturday, the Red Eagles took on the German National Team in a tuneup for Germany's participation later this week at the World Baseball Classic qualifier tournament in Mexicali, with Veracruz coming away 6-1 victors at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium (formerly known as Tucson Electric Park).

Veracruz didn't blow Germany away so much as administered a baseball version of "death by a thousand cuts" by scoring single runs in the first and second innings, two more in the third and pushing another pair of runners across the plate in the fourth in building up a 6-0 lead.  Andy Vasquez scored the first run of the game in the first inning by streaking in from third on Roger Kieschnick's tapper back to the mound.  The Rojo Aguilas made it 2-0 in the second when Juan Martinez doubled in Baltazar Lopez from second base.

The Red Eagles got a little more breathing room in the third frame when Kieschnick doubled and later scored on Humberto Sosa's sacrifice fly to bring the score to 3-0.  Later that inning, Veracruz' lead was stretched to four runs when Lopez drew a walk, advanced to second and then scored on Martinez' second hit of the contest.

Veracruz plated their final two scores with the closest thing to a big inning that they'd have in the fourth stanza.  Enrique Osorio led off with a double, Vasquez tripled Osorio in and then scored the Rojo Aguilas' sixth run himself when Juan Silverio singled.

The shutout bid by Veracruz' pitching staff carried into the eighth, when it was broken up by opportunistic German baserunning.  The following sequence comes from a convoluted press release translation, so take it with a grain of salt:  German Eric Brunck singled off Dominican hurler Jailen Peguero, advanced to second on a hit by Christoph Ziegler, took third on a double steal with Ziegler and then scored on a throwing error by Veracruz' unnamed third baseman off a grounder down the baseline by Deutschmen outfielder Kent Matthes.

However they were scored upon, the Veracruz pitching staff turned in a solid performance in the win.  Manuel Flores tossed three innings for the win, allowing two hits and striking out two in relief of starter Jose Miguel Pina, who blanked Germany over the first two frames.  Jan-Niclas Stoecklin took the loss for the Germans after allowing four runs on five hits in three innings.

Veracruz is coming off a 48-65 season in 2015, finishing last in the Mexican League South Division under then-manager Sharnol Adriana, a former Liga star outfielder and Dutch National Team starter.  Onetime Washington Nationals coach Marc Weidemaier has taken over as skipper with the Red Eagles.  A 34-year baseball veteran, the bilingual Weidemaier started his coaching career while studying for his master's degree at THE Ohio State University in 1982.  He briefly managed the LMB's Torreon Algodoneros in 1988, but most of Weidemaier's career has been spent in scouting.

TJ Toros split two with German National Team

The Tijuana Toros played a pair of exhibition games against the German National Team this past week at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.  The Toros are one of three Mexican League teams holding spring training in Tucson while the Germans were in town to prepare for the upcoming World Baseball Classic qualifier tournament in Mexicali.

Manager Luis Sojo's Toros drubbed the Germans, 6-1, Wednesday night at Kino Stadium.  Tijuana scored twice in the first inning on RBI singles from Allan Dykstra and Juan Apodaca, but Germany was able to close the score to 2-1 when Ludwig Glaser's single brought Sascha Lutz from second in a subsequent frame.  Tijuana broke the game open with four runs in the sixth inning, keyed by a two-run RBI triple off the bat of Roman Pena plus run-plating singles by Isaac Rodriguez and Miguel Torrero.  Toros starter Miguel Pena worked two innings and was followed by Jorge Reyes, Mike Serrano, Derrick Miramontes and Jason Urquidez.

The Germans recovered in half a day by beating Tijuana, 3-2, Wednesday morning in Tucson.  The European visitors scored all three runs in a forgettable (for the Toros) second inning when pitcher Alex Sanabia committed two errors to bring in Simon Guhring and Maximilian Boldt, then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Christoph Ziegler from third.  Tijuana threatened in the fifth by loading the bases with one out, but Carlos Valencia was induced to tap into an inning-ending double play to end the threat without bothering the scorer further.  The Toros finally broke through in the seventh when Adan Munoz led off with a double and later scored on an Isaac Rodriguez single.  Eduardo Arredondo later tripled in Omar Quintanilla to make it a 3-2 contest.  Tijuana put the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the top of the ninth, but German pitcher Kevin Trisl got the third out to save the win for the Flying Deutschmen (sorry...couldn't resist).

Germany's national team has been managed by Greg Frady since 2004.  Frady is a Georgia native who played college ball at Troy before entering coaching.  He's entering his tenth season as head coach at Georgia State, a D1 school in the Sun Belt Conference, where his overall record since 2007 is 228-173.

The WBC qualifier in Mexicali will open with a doubleheader on Thursday, March 17 and wrap up three days later.