Marvin Benard of the San Francisco Giants looks on before a baseball game against the New York Mets on July 31, 1996, at Shea Stadium in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
By Matthew Tallarini
World Baseball Network
Sports reporter Edgard Rodriguez revealed the 2024 Caribbean Series Nicaragua coaching staff that will join manager Marvin Benard in Miami in February.
Juan Lopez will be the bench coach and hitting coach at the 2024 Caribbean Series for Nicaragua, Lenin Picota will serve as pitching coach, Oswaldo Mairena as a bullpen coach, Sandor Guido will be the third base coach, and Eddy Talavera is assigned as the first base coach, Rodriguez said in a facebook post on Tuesday.
Nemasio Porras is the president of FENIBA, which announced Benard, the former San Francisco Giants outfielder, as their manager for the 2024 Caribbean Series on December 18.
FENIBA will announce their full coaching staff next week on their social media pages. The Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional Caribe, which runs the Caribbean Series, directed FENIBA to make that announcement then, Carlos Alfaro, the technical director of FENIBA, told World Baseball Network via WhatsApp on Wednesday.
The team assembled by the Federacion Nicaraguense de Beisbol Asociada will have Nicaraguan-born players as well as up to seven foreign players on the 2024 Caribbean Series roster.
FENIBA will announce their official roster prior to the start of the 2024 Caribbean Series.
The winner of the 2023-24 Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional regular season will not represent Nicaragua in the Caribbean Series.
Instead, Nicaragua’s team will be made up of players from all five teams in the LBPN. Nicaragua can add players who have played in the winter leagues during the 2023-24 season as reinforcements for the Caribbean Series.
Nicaragua’s last club tournament was the Latin American Series, which was established in 2013 and held through 2019. Nicaragua won four straight Latin American Series from 2016-2019. The Gigantes de Rivas represented Nicaragua in 2016, Tigres de Chinandega in 2017 and 2018, and Leones de Leon in 2019.
This will be the first time Nicaragua will have a team in the Caribbean Series. The Caribbean Series was established in 1949.
Nicaragua is entering the seven-team field as one of the three invitees of the 2024 Caribbean Series, along with Panama and Curacao.
Nicaragua will open the 2024 Caribbean Series against Puerto Rico on Feb. 1 at 10:30 a.m. EST at loanDepot Park in Miami, and will have the day off on Feb. 3.
All games of the 2024 Caribbean Series will be televised on ESPN Deportes.
2024 Nicaragua Caribbean Series Schedule
All games are at loanDepot Park
Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024
10:30 a.m. EST – Nicaragua vs. Puerto Rico
Friday, Feb. 2, 2024
3:30 p.m. EST – Dominican Republic vs. Nicaragua
Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024
10:30 a.m. EST – Panama vs. Nicaragua
Monday, Feb. 5, 2024
10:30 a.m. EST – Nicaragua vs. Curacao
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024
10:30 a.m. EST – Mexico vs. Nicaragua
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024
8:30 p.m. EST – Nicaragua vs. Venezuela
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024
3 p.m. EST – Semifinal No. 1
8 p.m. EST – Semifinal No. 2
Friday, Feb. 9, 2024
3 p.m. EST – Third-place game
8 p.m. EST – Championship Game