SANTIAGO WINS SECOND STRAIGHT LIGA NOROESTE PENNANT

The Santiago Tabaqueros snuck past the Acaponeta Cachorros, 8-7, at home on Monday night to clinch their second consecutive Mexican Northwest League championship by copping the title series in five games. The Tabaqueros have won three pennants since 2002.

Emmanuel Rangel broke up a 7-7 ties with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning and Santiago reliever Luis Zamora followed on for the win for Santiago, tossing a scoreless ninth inning, giving up one hit with a strikeout. The Tabaqueros (or “Tobacco Growers”) are a farm team for Monclova and Tabasco of the Mexican League while Acaponeta had no less than four LMB parent clubs providing players this winter.

The Mexican Northwest League is a six-team developmental league affiliated with twelve Liga clubs centered primarily in the state of Nayarit south of Mazatlan and north of Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. It is considered a "Class A" circuit in Mexico. The Liga Noroeste has had several incarnations over the years, with the current edition opening for the 2000-01 season (although the 2003-04 campaign was suspended following damage to the region from Hurricane Kenna).

Santiago is a city of about 17,000 residents where the Tabaqueros play home games at 3,000-seat Estadio Revolucion.

NORTH REGISTERS 7-0 WIN IN MEXICAN NW LEAGUE ALL-STAR GAME

Luis Navarrete (pictured batting) cracked a homer and scored another run to lead the North to a 7-0 shutout over the South in the Mexican Northwest League’s All-Star Game on Sunday in Puerto Vallarta.

Navarrete, who plays for Acaponeta, drilled a three-run cuadrangular in the third inning off Compostela’s Benjamin Sandoval to break a scoreless tie and scored another run in the fifth on an error. Tuxpan’s Ramon Soto belted a homer in the sixth to pad the North lead as Tuxpan’s Demetrio Gutierrez earned the win in relief with two strikeouts in one scoreless inning. Sandoval took the loss for the South after coughing up four runs on as many hits in two frames. Navarrete was named the game’s MVP.

The North squad was populated by players from Santiago, Tuxpan and Acaponeta while the South was represented by products from Compostela, Tepic and host Puerto Vallarta.

Before the game, several field contests were held among individual All-Stars. Santiago’s Enrique Trujillo made the best throw from center field to home plate, Arturo Rodriguez of Acaponeta beat out other catchers with the best toss from behind home plate to second base and Tuxpan infielder Edwin Wilson outdueled teammate Antonio Lamas in the Home Run Derby.

SANTIAGO WINS NOROESTE CROWN, BUSANI NAMED PLAYOFF MVP

The Mexican Northwest League pennant has been won by the surprising Santiago Tabaqueros, who defeated the regular season titleholder Tepic Diablos Rojos in five games in their best-4-of-7 championship series.

After finishing the regular season with a league-best 43-17 record, defending champion Tepic swept Compostela in three straight games to win their first round series. Santiago finished third with a 32-27 record in the regular season before upsetting 40-20 Tuxpan in a first round sweep. The Tobacconists won the finals, 4 games to 1, capping the season with a 5-4 home win over Tepic on January 5 when Franky Busani drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The burly Busani was named the series MVP. The 6’4” 235-pound Busani batted .329 for Santiago during the regular season, and led the Liga Noroeste with 12 homers and 34 RBIs. The 23-year-old Sonora-born Busani, who grew up in Arizona and played collegiately in the United States, hit 39 homers with 144 RBIs in 401 at-bats over his last two seasons of college ball in 2008 and 2009.

LIGA NOROESTE FINALS SET: IT’S TEPIC VERSUS SANTIAGO

The Mexican Northwest League (or Liga Noroeste) is down to its final two teams in their winter playoffs. The regular season champions Tepic Diablos Rojos are meeting the Santiago Tabaqueros in a best-of-7 series for the league title.

After finishing the regular season with a league-best 43-17 record, defending champion Tepic swept Compostela in three straight games to win their first round series. The Diablos lineup features LBN batting champion Eloy Gutierrez, who hit .388, but the linchpin to success for Tepic has been left-handed pitcher Juan Jose Flores. Flores, a native of Oaxaca who was once property of the Mexican League Guerreros, won the Noroeste’s pitching Triple Crown, with eight wins (and no losses), a 1.58 ERA and 54 strikeouts over the Diablos’ 60-game schedule.

Santiago finished third with a 32-27 record in the regular season before upsetting 40-20 Tuxpan in a first round sweep. The Tabaqueros are led offensively by former USA college player Franky Busani (pictured). Busani batted .329 for Santiago this winter, and led the Northwest League with 12 homers and 34 RBIs. The 6’4” 23-year-old hit .380 with 23 homers and 84 RBIs in 216 at-bats for Wayland Baptist University of Arkansas last spring after hitting .324 with 16 homers and 60 RBIs in 185 at-bats for New Mexico State in 2008. He was born in Sahuaripa, Sonora, but went to high school in Mesa, Arizona.