Veteran Pedro Luis Lazo showed why he is regarded as one of the best pitchers in the history of Cuban baseball and why he owns the record in wins in national tournaments (237) when he led his team to a hard-fought 5-4 victory over host Industriales at the Estadio Latinoamericano in the Cuban capital.

The local squad took the lead in the very first inning with two runs off starter Yosvani Torres but the visitors tied with one run in the fourth and another one in the fifth. Then, Industriales made it 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth off Pinars first reliever Irandy Castro. However, the hosts lead was short-lived as Pinar del Rio again tied in the sixth and scored twice in the top of the seventh. It was then that Lazo was called to the mound to preserve his teams triumph, which he did allowing just one run in the last three innings.

With this result, Pinar del Rio booked a spot in semifinals as they had defeated Industriales last week 24-0 and 6-5 thus sweeping their rivals in this best-of-five series.

Also on Sunday, but in the Eastern Division, Villa Clara forced a fifth and final game in their quarterfinal series against Ciego de Avila.

Playing at the Jose Ramon Cepero stadium in Ciego de Avila, the visitors took a 7-1 win behind an excellent pitching relief by Juan Yasser Serrano.

The decisive game will take place on Tuesday at the Augusto Cesar Sandino stadium in Villa Clara.

The quarterfinal stage of the Cuban baseball championship continues on Monday with the games Habana-Sancti Spiritus in the West and Santiago de Cuba-Las Tunas in the East. Habana and Sancti Spiritus have one victory apiece while Santiago has a 2-0 lead over Las Tunas.

(Tiempo21.cu)