Merida, Yucatan — Alex Liddi doubled and singled, and Cesar Valdez allowed just two hits over seven innings as the Leones de Yucatan defeated the Guerreros de Oaxaca 3-1 on Sunday.
With the win, the Leones head to the South Zone Championship Series for the fifth consecutive year. They will face either the Diablos Rojos del México (2) or the Tigres de Quintana Roo (3).
In top form, Valdez (16-2) pitched seven solid innings and picked up the win after he struck out seven and walked two while allowing one run.
Yucatan started the scoring in the first inning when Luis Juarez hit an RBI double and then scored on a single by Xavier Scruggs.
After Yucatan added a run in the second on a single by Walter Ibarra, the Guerreros cut into the deficit in the fourth inning when Alejandro Gonzalez scored on a double play.
Alex Delgado (8-5) went 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and seven hits, also striking out seven and walking one.
Yucatan improved to 8-3 against Oaxaca this season.
CLUB |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| R | H | E |
OAX |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 3 | 1 |
YUC |
| 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | X |
| 3 | 7 | 0 |
Win: Valdez (1-0)
Loss: Delgado (0-1)
SV: Lueke (2)
HR: None
Sources: Leones, The Associated Press