01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 19, 2006

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Major leaguers or not, Cuba's dominance on baseball's international stage is unparalleled.

The Cubans are finally getting a chance to show it in the United States, too.

Osmani Urrutia hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, Yadel Marti capped his sensational tournament by combining with Pedro Lazo on an eight-hitter, and Cuba defeated the Dominican Republic, 3-1, yesterday to reach the championship game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

Cuba, wearing its lucky red uniforms for only the second time in the tournament, avenged a 7-3 loss to the Dominicans from five days earlier and moved within one victory of adding another title to the country's long list of baseball accomplishments.

Chants of "Cuba! Cuba!" began in the late innings from the crowd of 41,268 for a squad with no major leaguers. The Cubans sprinted onto the field to celebrate when Lazo struck out pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano to end it. After hugs and high-fives, the Cubans acknowledged their fans by waving their caps.

Cuba will play the winner of yesterday's late game between unbeaten South Korea and Japan in the championship of the 16-team Classic tomorrow night at Petco Park.

Yoandry Garlobo had three hits, and Alexei Ramirez and Frederich Cepeda each drove in runs in their team's decisive seventh inning that featured several mistakes by the Dominicans right after they took a 1-0 lead in the sixth on an unearned run.

Cuba, champion of the 2005 World Cup, 2004 Olympics and '03 Pan American Games played in Santo Domingo, is clearly in midseason form while the Dominicans are still working to find their rhythm after the winter.