Wednesday, March 17, 1999; 9:15 p.m. EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Wearing the black and orange of his favorite major-league team, the Baltimore Orioles, Miami resident Felix Tirse begged the Orioles not to play a March 28 exhibition game against the Cuban national team in Havana.

``If they win against Fidel's team, the Orioles are professionals and the (Cubans) are amateurs,'' said Tirse, referring to Cuban leader Fidel Castro. ``If the Cubans win, it's only a victory for Castro. Castro uses everybody, even baseball players. ... It's immoral.''

About 125 people -- many of them Cubans now living in south Florida -- protested against the Orioles' trip outside Fort Lauderdale Stadium before a Wednesday night exhibition game between Baltimore and the Florida Marlins.

They carried Cuban and American flags, waved placards denouncing Castro as a tyrant, chanted for liberty for the Cuban people and handed out fliers decrying the Orioles' decision to play a home-and-home series with the Cuban team. Baltimore will play host to a Cuban team at Camden Yards on May 3.

In the third inning of Wednesday's game, a man was led away by police after running onto the field, bearing a Cuban flag. Police also led away a woman who had been screaming at players in the Orioles dugout, pleading with them not to go to Havana.

It was the second protest at the Orioles' spring training base. About 40 people protested before the Orioles' home exhibition opener on March 7.

Olivia Varona of Miami bristled when asked why she was so upset over a baseball game.

``It's politics, not baseball,'' she said. ``Everything that comes from Cuba is political. ... I don't understand why the State Department could allow this.''

Laura Vianello, a member of a Miami-based Cuban rights group called Vigilia Mambisa, admitted there was little chance of convincing the Orioles to cancel the game.

The Orioles, she said, contend that baseball is a key to a more open cultural exchange. ``That's a political statement. That's politics. Can't they see that?'' she asked.

Joe Foss, the Orioles' vice chairman for business and finance, acknowledged the sentiments of protesters.

``We support their right to protest. It's our hope that this exchange can help people in the two countries come together. What occurs in political change is not our responsibility and is not our motivation,'' he said.

So far, only one Oriole, starting pitcher Juan Guzman, has decided not to accompany the team to Cuba. Guzman, a native of the Dominican Republic, lives in a Miami neighborhood populated by Cubans. He has said he hasn't been pressured by his Cuban friends and neighbors.