Cal Baseball Team Will Play Host to Nicaraguan Squad
The University of California baseball team will play Nicaragua’s national team Sept. 28, and the visiting players will be guests at a reception hosted by Mayor Gus Newport later that day.
Former Stanford and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Guy Benjamin, who heads San Francisco-based Athletes United for Peace, announced the contest last Wednesday.
Benjamin said that earlier this summer he started working out details for the Nicaraguan National All-Star baseball team to play in the United States.
“We want to use sports as a way to reduce tensions,” said Benjamin, who has arranged sports exchanges with other nations such as the Soviet Union.
The Nicaraguan team also will play a game in the Sacramento area on Sept. 27, Benjamin said, although the details of that match have yet to be worked out. Later that day they will play a game against Bay Area college all-stars in San Francisco.
Kevin Reneau, Cal’s sports information director, said the Berkeley contest would be more of an exhibition game than anything else.
“Maybe not even that,” he added, noting that the college baseball season ended last June, although the team has continued practicing.
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