Dominican win in Caribbean Series resonates in Lynn

When the Dominican Republic won the Caribbean Series title on Monday, the news spread up north to the Dominican community in Lynn.Lynn Tech baseball coach and teacher Yuri Sanchez, who is from Moca in the Cibao section of the Dominican Republic, got the news from Tech senior captain Elvis Aquino, a shortstop and one of quite a few Dominicans on the Tigers’ roster.”The ballplayers follow it,” Sanchez said Wednesday night. “Some are from Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic), some outside. They’re always telling me what’s going on.”After the Dominican team, Leones del Escogido, clinched the championship on Monday, Aquino let Sanchez know at school the next day. Sanchez teaches carpentry at Tech, and also helps out with language learning and monitoring.”I would be there in the hallway and sometimes someone shows up,” Sanchez said. “Before I ask, they tell me what’s going on.”Aquino and Sanchez are two of many Lynners with Dominican ties. A third, Felix Martinez, estimated that 90 percent of the Dominican community in Lynn followed the series.Martinez, who like Sanchez is from Cibao, watched the Caribbean Series games “every night to the end,” he said, with a group of “probably about 10 guys” at his cousin’s house.”It was a way to celebrate since we are so passionate,” he said. “It happened in a lot of places. People gathered in barbershops, nightclubs, Spanish restaurants, to have a little party and watch the game, like we do here for the Super Bowl.”Sanchez relied on his ballplayers and his cousin, Alberto Cuevas of Lynn, to keep him updated on the series. That’s because he wasn’t able to see the games on TV from his new home in Wakefield. However, he said, he did see Escogido qualify for the series by beating another Dominican team, Las Aguilas, in its league final.Sanchez’ and Martinez’ passion for baseball extends to Lynn.In 2008, Sanchez coached third base for a Dominican team that played the North Shore Navigators at Fraser Field.Last year, Martinez and his wife, Frances, who was born in New York but whose parents are from the Dominican Republic, helped organize Dominican Day festivities with the North Shore Navigators at Fraser Field. Frances Martinez is the CEO of the North Shore Latino Business Association and Felix Martinez works for a hospital in Tewksbury.When asked to compare the Caribbean Series with another sporting event popular in the US, Felix Martinez said, “It’s bigger than the World Series (is) here.”This year, Escogido clinched its 19th title since 1970. Of the four teams in this year’s tournament, the Dominican Republic won, Puerto Rico and Venezuela finished second, and Mexico finished last.While Sanchez said that the Dominican players on his Tech team “sure want Escogido to win,” he noted that one of his seniors had a different perspective: Billy Colon, who is from Puerto Rico.Even though Felix Martinez’ team won, he wasn’t completely happy with the results. He said he was hoping for a sweep ? and he also said he saw lower fan turnout for the Caribbean Series.”The analysts said the price of tickets was way too high,” he said, adding that they also noted “a lack of presence from professional baseball players” in the tournament.Escogido does have former Boston Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo on its roster. However, Martinez said, citing two other players with Dominican roots, “If we can get one David Ortiz or (Carlos) Beltran, one of the high-numbers players in the games, people would participate (in attending) more” and pay more money.Perhaps Martinez has such a nuanced critique because baseball in the Dominican Republic is so important to him. He said that two Dominican characteristics are “baseball and merengue. It’s what we have in our blood, our mind.”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].