Updated: Sun Aug. 03 2008 17:08:58

ctvedmonton.ca

Another Cuban baseball player has gone missing from a junior baseball tournament in Edmonton.

Tournament officials tell CTV News the Cuban team only dressed 15 out of 18 of it total players Sunday for its bronze medal game.

Pitcher Raydel Sanchez was one of the missing names on the roster Sunday, along with two other confirmed missing team members Noel Argueilles and Jose Iglesias.

This brings the total number of Cuban players expected to have defected to three.

A Cuban team interpreter would not confirm to CTV News whether Sanchez was missing. He would only say he was scheduled to be the starting pitcher Sunday.

Sanchez never appeared on the field or threw a single pitch.

Argueilles and Iglesias went missing shortly after their game against Team Canada last Sunday. Team members confirmed to CTV News earlier this week the two teens likely defected.

Both are 18 years old.

The Cuban team is one of 12 different teams currently in Edmonton for the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championship.

The tournament wraps up today.

Tournament chairman Ron Hayter told the Canadian Press defection happens at most major international sporting events, and he's not losing sleep over the issue.

Hayter says it's not up to organizers to be keeping tabs on players to make sure they don't leave their team.

Major League scout Jay Lapp said Sanchez could already be heading south.

"It becomes a matter of getting a player citizenship in one of the Central American countries to become a free agent," he said.

The defections seem to have weakened the Cuban team. The once-gold medal favourite settled for bronze Sunday.

"A big thing with clubs like this is team unity and things like that losing three players its got to take some of the wind out of your sails," Lapp said.

On Friday, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro rebuked Edmonton in an Internet column, calling it a `dumping ground' for Cuban athletes.

With files from the Canadian Press