Luis Castillo's clutch homer lifts Panama past Puerto Rico

With Panama behind 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth and two outs, Luis Castillo hit a clutch two-run homer to give his team a 4-3 victory in Tepic as Group A of the WBSC Premier12 presented by RAXUS came to an exciting climax on Thursday. Panama finished the group with a 3-2 record, tied with USA in second place, but Panama lost the tie-breaker because of the head to head result.

"Credit to the players, credit to what they did. They never gave up," said Jose Mayorga, Panama's manager. "We went out to win this game, regardless of what happened in the other stadium. I think we did it. I'm very happy with what they did."

Panama jumped ahead in the first inning after Edgar Muñoz sent the first pitch from Jonathan Bermudez over the left field wall to put Panama in front in the game, 1-0. The second baseman crushed an 88mph pitch from the Puerto Rican starter to give his team the early lead.

Puerto Rico tied the game in the top of the third. Ezequiel Pagan belted a solo homer way behind the left center field wall to tie the game at one. 

Panama went ahead in the scoreboard again in the bottom of the fifth. Jose Ramos walked, stole second base and scored from there on a double by Joshwan Wright to the right field corner. 

Puerto Rican clean-up hitter Sabin Ceballos put his team ahead with only one swing. With a runner on, the third baseman crushed an off-speed pitch well over the left field wall for a two run homer, giving Puerto Rico a 3-2 advantage.

However, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Luis Castillo crushed an 80mph breaking ball to give Panama the win with a clutch two-run homer. 

"The game was very even, we were about to lose it at that moment and Luis Castillo hit that homer," Mayorga said. "I'm really happy. I know it's not what we wanted, but I think we did a tremendous job.

"Maybe we could have aspired a little more, which was what we wanted, which was to qualify, but things didn't go as we expected," added Mayorga. "At the end of the day, as I always say, I'm happy with what they did and the effort they put into this tournament."