A pair of doubleheader splits in winter league play
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Dec 2, 2025
- 4 min read
Walk-off hit in 10th lifts Mayagüez
By THE STAR STAFF
The Santurce Crabbers, San Juan Senators, Caguas Criollos and Carolina Giants all split doubleheaders on Sunday in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC by its initials in Spanish).
The Crabbers (Cangrejeros) won the first game of a doubleheader, 3-1, while the Senators (Senadores) returned the favor with a 3-1 victory in the second game.
With the split, the first-place Crabbers have a record of 13-5 and the Senators stand at 6-12.
Crabbers’ starting pitcher Juan Hillman struggled with his control early in the first game, but kept the Senators off the scoreboard until the third inning, when he gave up three hits to the five batters he faced. The last of those hits, by Darlin Moquete, drove in San Juan’s first run.
Santurce tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Rubén Castro drove in Jeremy Arocho from second base. In the fourth, a solo home run by Shed Long Jr. over the right-field fence gave Santurce a 2-1 lead. Senators starter Brady Tedesco, continued to struggle. First, he walked Brian Navarreto. Then Andrew Velázquez singled, and Jack López followed with an RBI double that made the score 3-1.
Tedesco (0-3) took the loss, allowing Santurce’s runs in three and two-thirds innings. Blake Abeyta (3-0) earned the win for Santurce, pitching two scoreless innings. Right-hander Case Matter recorded his second save.
Moquete led the Senators’ offense in the second game. The outfielder drove in two of the team’s three runs with doubles in the third and fifth innings, the latter to make it 3-0. San Juan also got a solo home run from Jan Mercado to lead off the fifth. A double by Long Jr. drove in Santurce’s only run in the sixth inning.
San Juan right-hander Ethan Routzahn (1-0) earned the win, pitching two scoreless innings, and Josh Mallitz recorded the save. Austin Bergner (1-1) took the loss for Santurce, allowing all of the Senators’ runs in four innings.
At Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium in Carolina, the Criollos and Giants (Gigantes) also split their doubleheader as Caguas won the first game and Carolina the second, both by a score of 4-1.
In the nightcap, the Giants snapped a seven-game losing streak and remained in fourth place in the standings with an 8-10 record. The Criollos, meanwhile, remained in fifth place at 7-11.
In the opener, a double by Jonathan Morales gave the Criollos an early 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Then rookie Gustavo Meléndez drove in the third run for Caguas off Giants starter Matt Givin with a groundout to first base.
The Giants scored their lone run when Adrián Rodríguez hit a ground ball into a double play to shortstop in the fifth inning. The Criollos scored their final run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch by Colin Poche.
Left-hander Héctor Santiago (1-1) earned the win for Caguas, allowing one run in his five-inning start. Right-hander Yacksel Ríos recorded his first save of the year. Givin (0-1) took the loss after surrendering three runs in three and one-third innings.
In the second game, Yasser Mercedes and Jan Hernández hit solo home runs for the Giants’ first two runs in the second inning. The Criollos closed the gap to 2-1 in the top of the third inning when Nelson Velázquez singled in a run. In the bottom of the inning, Mercedes combined with Josh Hatcher to drive in two more runs with doubles and extend Carolina’s lead to 4-1.
Right-hander Eddy Reynoso (1-0) earned the win, pitching one-third of an inning. Osvaldo Berríos recorded his first save of the season. Brendan Cellucci (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs in two innings.
Indians win delayed opener in extra innings; 2nd game rescheduled
At Isidoro “Cholo” García Stadium in Mayagüez, a walk-off single by Anthony García in the 10th inning lifted the Mayagüez Indians to a 4-3 victory over the Ponce Lions.
The second game of the doubleheader will be played on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Mayagüez. It will be a seven-inning game, as the first game went past 10:30 p.m.
After a delay of almost three hours due to inclement weather, the Indians (Indios) took an early lead in the opener after Emmanuel Rivera singled to make it 1-0 in the third inning.
The Lions (Leones) tied it up in the fifth on an error by Indians pitcher Luis Quiñones that allowed Kevin Santa to score.
Two innings later, a wild pitch by Indians pitcher Patrick Halligan resulted in Dalton Guthrie scoring the go-ahead run for Ponce. However, the Lions’ fortunes were reversed in the bottom of the seventh inning when Mayagüez’s Robbie Merced crossed home plate on a wild pitch by Andrew Marrero to tie the game 2-2.
Because it was a doubleheader with the second game shortened to seven innings, the tie-breaker rule for the regular season was activated, which places a runner on second base for both teams at the start of each extra inning, with no outs. Both teams scored in the 10th inning, beginning with Ponce’s William Simoneit driving in a run with a double in the top half to make it 3-2. Mayagüez answered in the bottom of the inning when an RBI double by Eddie Rosario tied the score and García followed with the game-winning single.
Right-hander Michael Reed (1-0) earned the win for the Indians after pitching one-third of an inning. Harold Cortijo (2-1) took the loss after allowing two runs in one-third of an inning.
With the win, Mayagüez improved to 9-8, while the Lions fell to 10-7, placing the teams third and second in the LBPRC standings, respectively.
what a rollercoaster in lbprc: doubleheaders, 10th inning and one swing decides it all. during the almost three-hour delay in mayaguez I was scrolling through my phone, and in the comments under the stream someone kept spamming https://livelightningdice.org/ and https://teenpattilivegames.com/, was just as distracting as a tiebreaker with a runner on second. but at least it’s nice that carolina finally broke the streak, and santurce still has a solid record.
wow