TEPIC, ACAPONETA WIN LIGA NOROESTE PLAYOFF OPENERS

The Mexican Northwest League has begun its 2010-11 playoffs with the top four squads from the six-team circuit squaring off in the semifinals.

In Santiago, the home Tabaqueros lost a 1-0 nailbiter to Tepic’s Universitario Diablos Rojos on Sunday night. The six-hit shutout for Tepic was spun by starter Rodolfo Aguilar (six innings, four hits) and relievers Martin Arturo Sotelo and Alan Ramirez. Sotelo earned the victory. Santiago’s hard-luck loser was Francisco Madero, who went the distance and only allowed one run on three hits. The game’s lone run came on a solo homer by Tepic’s Francisco Cordoba in the seventh. Tepic is a farm team for Mexico City and Oaxaca of the Mexican League, while Santiago is linked to Monclova and Tabasco.

Meanwhile, in Acaponeta, the hometown Cachorros slammed visiting Tuxpan, 14-3. This was over early when Acaponeta sent twelve men to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring seven runs in the process. The Cachorros, who are a farm club for four Liga teams, put five more runs on the board in the eighth to salt the game away. Tuxpan is an affiliate of Nuevo Laredo and Laguna.

Santiago is the defending LBN champ. Acaponeta won top playoff seed this year with 14 points.

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.