In just his fifth season as a mentor, Pablo Alberto Civil, from Las Tunas is preparing to face his second extra-border experience at the head of a National Team, after leading the Las Tunas Lumberjacks for four consecutive years to the podium of the maximum level of baseball in Cuba.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- In that brief period, the former outfielder already exhibits a historic championship in 2019, and a runner-up in the 2020 Caribbean Series, held in Panama, where he led a real Cuba Team dressed in the green and red uniform of the Lumberjacks. At the domestic level, besides, he accumulates second place (2018) and a couple of third places (2020 and 2021), with a balance of 226 victories and only 157 defeats (excellent average of .590) since he resumed the reins of the Las Tunas team in 2017.
After losing 4-2 in the semifinals of the 60th National Series to the Matanzas Crocodiles, Civil confirmed his will to continue at the helm of Las Tunas after his four-year contract expired. However, before thinking about planning the new national campaign, the coach has his sights set on the third edition of the Caribbean Baseball Cup, a tournament in which he will rule the destinies of the debutant Cuban squad.
“I tell the people of Cuba that I am very happy with the appointment, with the possibility of leading the team to the Curaçao Cup. We know that it is a challenge, a very difficult one, but we are going to face it with responsibility,” the pilot assured in statements to journalist baseball Guillermo Rodríguez, from Radio Rebelde station.
“We already have three weeks of work with the boys, in the first part, where important issues were worked on within the ball game: how to build the run, technical-tactical thinking was studied, the tactical part of the game, the functioning and teamwork were studied,” Civil added, who will be accompanied in Curaçao by Jorge Hierrezuelo (assistant) and Rodolfo Correa (pitching coach).
“Also, the pitching work was reviewed, how it should be done, avoiding many walks. And we played a lot; in this case, four games in two and a half weeks ... I think the boys liked this; it was done something different from what is commonly done,” Civil concluded, who since his return four years ago has been characterized by the implementation of novel training methods, closer to simulation in the training of all the complexity involved in the baseball game.
For the 3rd Caribbean Cup, the coaching staff will have a roster of 24 players in which youth prevail, although some experienced players such as the catcher Osvaldo Vázquez, third baseman Pável Quesada, outfielder Denis Laza, and pitcher Yánder Guevara were included.
Initially scheduled for April 17-24, the 3rd Caribbean Cup was postponed for about three weeks due to health security issues and will now take place from May 8 to 15, in Willemstad, capital of Curaçao.
The Cuba Team appears in the Elite group of the tournament along with the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the host; while the key of Development is integrated by Haiti, Chile, Virgin Islands, and Peru.
According to the original schedule, Cuba would debut against the Dominican Republic and then face Curaçao, Panama, and Puerto Rico, in that order.
Roster of the Cuba Team to the 3rd Caribbean Cup
Catchers: Iván Prieto González (GRA), Andrys Pérez García (MTZ) and Osvaldo Vázquez Torres (CAV).
Infielders: Guillermo García García (GRA), Daniel Pérez Pérez (CFG), Santiago Torres Baena (SCU), Luis Vicente Mateo Terry (CFG), Osvaldo Abreu Sánchez (GRA), Pável Quesada Pedroso (CFG) and Juan Carlos Arencibia Echevarría (PRI).
Outfielders: Yasniel González Vega (MAY), Géisel Cepeda Lima (SSP), Yoelkis Guibert (SCU) and Denis Laza Spencer (MAY).
Pitchers: Pablo Luis Guillén Díaz (VCL), Marlon Vega Travieso (MAY), César Luis García Rondón (GRA), Yankiel Mauris (SSP), Yánder Guevara Morales (CAV), Naykel Cruz Zaldívar (MTZ), Frank Abel Álvarez Díaz ( PRI), Renner Rivero Estrada (MTZ), Yadián Martínez (MAY) and Dariel Fernández Baz (PRI).
* With information by ACN
