2017 Bolivarian Games

The 2017 Bolivarian Games were the 18th Bolivarian Games (the 14th to include baseball) and were held in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia. El Salvador was making their baseball debut in the Bolivarian Games. The baseball portion was held from November 18-November 23, 2017. Host Colombia won its first Gold in baseball in the Games in 44 years, defending champion Panama got the Silver and Venezuela got the Bronze for their worst finish ever.

Games

November 18

•  Panama 17,  Peru 0. The defending Gold Medalists start off with an expected romp of Peru; it was a big event for Panama, which had none of the 240 or so Gold medals awarded to this point in 2017 and was in last place in the medal count. Davis Romero tosses five shutout innings and Manuel Campos two while Edgar Muñoz scores four times and Gerald Chin three. Christopher Howard gets Peru's lone hit, off Romero. Gianpierre Reaño takes the loss.
•  Colombia 7,  El Salvador 2. Facing a team with two major leaguers, El Salvador does not do too badly in its Bolivarian Games baseball debut; El Salvador even lead 2-0 entering the 5th behind the pitching of Marcelo Parker and runs by Kevin Ayala and Francisco Flores. Milton Ramos triples and drives in three in the 5th (presumably a three-run triple).

November 19

•  Venezuela 16,  Peru 0. Jhonny Medrano scores three and drives in three while Jesus Ugueto drives in four as Peru again falls in a mercy rule loss. Juan Colmenarez, Pedro Guerra and Wilce Nieves dazzle on the mound for Venezuela. Susumu Yoza and Adriano Loayza have the only Peruvian hits, while Edson Piovan takes the defeat.
•  Colombia 2,  Panama 0. In the first match between any of the three likely contenders, the hosts beat the defending champs. Randy Consuegra gets the win in a pitching duel with Andy Otero. Jhon Romero saved it; Kendy Batista and Kevin Escorcia also provided solid relief for Colombia. Adrián Sánchez's sacrifice fly scored Manuel Boscan in the 5th with the first run, then in the 8th Tito Polo singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error by Adolfo Reina and was driven in by Álvaro Noriega. Eduardo Thomas Jr. has half of Panama's four hits.

November 20

•  Venezuela 5,  El Salvador 1. Carlos Parra, Miguel Vargas, Josmar Carreño, Leovildo Pargas and Luis Sanz did the pitching for Venezuela, while Jesus Ugueto scored twice. Kevin Ayala got the Salvadoran run while Jairo Aparicio took the loss.
•  Colombia 8,  Peru 0. Colombia locked up a spot in the Gold Medal game. Juan Corpas throws a two-hit complete game and Héctor Acuña homers to right. Edgar Paredes and Giancarlo Kanashiro had the lone Peruvian hits; Mauricio Oliveri took the loss.

November 21

•  Panama 9,  El Salvador 4. Eduardo Thomas Jr. raps 3 hits, Jhadiel Santamaria has 2 runs and 2 RBI and Jonathan Saavedra goes 4 for 5 and drives in 3 for Panama. Gabriel Ramos gets the win in relief of Abdiel Velasquez, Jhonny Bautista the loss in relief of Nelson Alfaro. Jose Guevara (2 for 3, R) leads El Salvador's attack.
•  Colombia 2,  Venezuela 0. Colombia ends the first round unbeaten with another 2-0 win over a contender. Juan Escorcia and Frank Mata trade goose eggs for five before Milton Ramos drives in Charlie Mirabal in the 6th. After Escorcia leaves, Kendy Batista, Ángel Vílchez and Jhon Romero complete the shutout. Jorge Alfaro drives in Adrián Sánchez with an insurance run in the 8th.

November 22

•  El Salvador 9,  Peru 0. The two winless teams squared off, with the champion advancing to the Bronze Medal game. In a lopsided affair, Peru was again blown out to finish with a 0-50 run differential in their four games. Jason Flores goes 2 for 5 with a run and two RBI to lead a balanced offense, while William Ponce allows only two hits and one walk in eight innings, then Eduardo Palacios walks one in a shutout 9th. Susumu Yoza and Ignacio Castro get the lone Peruvian hits, while Jonathan Farias takes the loss.
•  Panama 3,  Venezuela 0. The two 2-1 teams matched off or a spot in the Gold Medal game, with the loser going to the Bronze Medal game instead. Davis Romero struck out 19 in a three-hit gem for Panama, while Edgar Muñoz goes 2 for 4 with a run and Eduardo Thomas Jr. drives in two. Robert Palencia takes the defeat. Jonathan Sivira has two of Venezuela's three hits while Douglas Landaeta gets the other one.

November 23

• Gold Medal Game:  Colombia 6,  Panama 4. The hosts win their first Gold in baseball at the Bolivarian Games since 1973 by topping the defending champs. Karl Triana gets the win and Jhon Romero his third save. Andy Otero takes the loss.Jorge Alfaro was driven in by Diover Ávila (who had 3 hits) in the second but Panama quickly went ahead with three runs off Triana. In the 4th, Colombia retook the lead, this time for good, when Ávila doubled, Álvaro Noriega singled him in, Efraín Contreras walked, Charlie Mirabal tied it with a single and Sneider Batista singled for the lead. Kevin Escorcia took over in the 8th but allowed a run; Kendy Batista took over before handing the ball to Romero for the save after Belarmino Campos walked and Gerald Chin singled in the 9th.

• Bronze Medal Game:  Venezuela 5,  El Salvador 1. Guaranteed of their worst finish ever, Venezuela settles for a Bronze by beating El Salvador. Jesús Mogollón goes 3 for 3 with two runs while Pedro Guerra gets the win. Calvin Estrada is 2 for 4 with a RBI in a losing cause, while Marcelo Parker takes the decision for El Salvador.

Also see 2017 Bolivarian Games (Rosters)

Sources

• 2017 Bolivarian Games official site
• Telemetro
• El Informador
• Critica
• Colombian Baseball Federation
• TVN