The Caimanes de Barranquilla continue writing golden pages in the history of Colombian sports by ensuring their qualification to the grand final of the Americas Series.

In an epic day played this Thursday, the national team became the first representative of the country to reach the final stage of this competition after beating the Metropolitan Águilas of Panama 6-4.

The ninth team from Barranquilla demonstrated a remarkable ability to react by coming back from behind on two occasions against the current champions, sealing a victory that places them once again in the elite of international baseball.

The prominence of the match fell on Venezuelan catcher Gabriel Lino, who dressed as a hero at the top of the ninth inning.

With the game tied and Harold Ramírez on the bases, Lino hit a solid 345-foot home run off the pitches of Panamanian closer Jorge Bautista, breaking parity and establishing the definitive difference.

This performance crowned a brilliant afternoon for the mask, who drove in three runs and hit his fourth homer so far in the tournament, establishing himself as the key piece of the Colombian attack.

The development of the match was a constant exchange of dominance that maintained the tension until the last out.

The “saurs” took the early lead in the first chapter, but Panama responded to turn the score around in the third inning.

After a partial tie in the seventh inning caused by a defensive error, the Águilas regained control with a home run by Édgar Múñoz that made the score 4-2.

Caimanes de Barranquilla against Navegantes de Magallanes for the title of the Americas

However, the Caimanes’ combativeness emerged in the eighth inning, where a sacrifice fly by Andrés Angulo and a RBI single by Jesús Marriaga returned equality to the match.

In the field from the mound, reliever Ezequiel Zabaleta was credited with the victory after a solid performance in the eighth inning, while Pedro García was in charge of ensuring the save in the ninth inning by retiring the rival batters with authority and adding two strikeouts.

On the contrary, pitcher Jorge Bautista took the loss by allowing the two decisive runs.

With this result, the Barranquilla team returns to an international final, adding this milestone to its outstanding participations in the 2022 Caribbean Series and the 2023 Champions League.

The dispute for the Americas title will take place this Friday against the hosts, Navegantes de Magallanes of Venezuela, who obtained their place after convincingly beating the Cuban team 9-1.

The decisive duel is scheduled for 6:30 in the afternoon, Colombian time, at the imposing Simón Bolívar Monumental Stadium in Caracas.

Fans will be able to follow the actions through Caracol Television’s Ditu application, on a day where the Caimanes will seek another continental crown for Colombian baseball.

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