JUPITER, Fla. -- Dusty Baker realizes that Team Nicaragua, the squad he is managing in the World Baseball Classic, is not a powerhouse like Team USA, Japan and the Dominican Republic. But he vows his team will not be pushovers in the tournament.
Maybe Baker said it best: Nicaragua “is more in a David and Goliath situation.” The team doesn’t have any stars. Mark Vientos is the only player on the roster who had significant playing time in the big leagues last year.
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“The key word is to compete. Everybody knows how strong those other teams are,” Baker acknowledged. “But, hey, everybody has to put the uniform on, everybody has to play the same way. Hopefully, we can play hard, play smart and bring some pride not only to Nicaragua now, but this would mean a lot to the kids who come up in the future.”
Team Nicaragua played five exhibition games and won two of them, including a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Nicaragua will open pool play in the Classic vs. the Dominican Republic on Friday at 7 p.m. ET on FS2 at loanDepot park in Miami.
“I’m still learning my players and there are a lot of players [in the Classic] I don’t know, especially when we play the Netherlands and Israel,” Baker said. “There are a lot of guys you don’t know from the other side. So we are on a fast learning curve.”
At least Nicaragua will have a happy ride to Miami after the victory over the Cardinals. The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when Emanuel Trujillo hit a two-run homer off Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis’ No. 1 starter.
“We are in every game and that’s key,” Baker said. “We are one pitch, one hit, one play away from winning every game that we have played. Nothing happens overnight.”
It was a day when the Cardinals faced eight pitchers, including starter Dilmer Mejia, and collected six hits, though they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. One of their best chances to score came in the first inning. St. Louis had runners on first and second with no outs, but Nelson Velázquez hit into a double play and César Prieto popped up to third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert to end the threat.
St. Louis would eventually score its lone run in the eighth inning when Andy Yerzy hit a solo homer off right-hander Leonel Sequera, who was on loan from the Cardinals.
“Every victory is tough. You take every one you can and any way you can,” Baker said. “We received good pitching and defense today. We still have to get better at getting runners in scoring position. Hopefully, that will come.”