Bulls bag third place, nip Patriots

Vio Roxas hit the game-winning run in the 10th inning to lift the Batangas Bulls to a 3-2 victory over the Taguig Patriots and capture third place honors in the Baseball Philiippines Series 8 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium, Sunday.
Roxas’ walk-off hit to shallow right field scored Chris Canlas from second base to clinch the victory. Canlas reached first base on a throwing error and second base on a single by Justin Zialcita to move in scoring position.
The Bulls thus salvaged third place after failing to return to the Series 8 finals after losing to the Cebu Dolphins in the semis of the league organized by Community Sports Inc. and sponsored by Pepsi, Rawlings and Gatorade.
Meanwhile, Cebu’s Miggy Corcuera capped his impressive Series 8 performance by bagging the MVP honors in the league also backed by Harbour Centre, The Heritage Park, Emperador Distillers, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Victory Liner and Clark Development Corp.
Corcuera scored three home runs, eight runs and 11 RBIs while hitting a .360 batting average. His outputs in home runs and RBIs also netted him the Home Run King and the Most RBIs plums for Series 8.
Corcuera’s teammate Joseph Orillana took the Best Pitcher award after contributing three wins for the Dolphins while striking out 25 batters, allowing only six runs in 26.2 innings pitched. Another Dolphin Jonash Ponce won the Most Stolen Base award with seven stolen bases.
Taguig’s Denver Largo earned the Best Hitter award for his .428 batting average, 15 hits, .485 slugging percentage and a .490 on-base percentage while Manila coach Jhoel Palanog was named as the Best Manager for leading the Sharks to a 9-1 win-loss card in the elimination round. Ricky Bernabe was named the Best Umpire.
Roxas actually scored the game-tying RBI in the fourth frame for a 2-2 score after Batangas gave up a run on an error in the third to score Jot Angeles.
Largo put Taguig ahead in the first inning with an RBI single but Ferdinand Recto’s double advanced Randy De Leon home to tie the game.
The league is also supported by Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and dzSR Sports Radio 918.(pr)

Linescores:
Taguig                   101 000 000 0 – 2 5 6
Batangas              011 000 000 1 – 3 8 1

Manila, Cebu arrange another clash for championship

Manila and Cebu arranged another clash for the championship after overcoming their foes Saturday in the semifinals of the Baseball Philippines Series 8 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

The two-time defending champion Sharks put up another defensive stand to defeat Taguig, 2-0, while the Dolphins scattered 15 hits to blow past Batangas, 9-2, to set up their third clash for the title in the league organized by Community Sports Inc. and sponsored by Rawlings and Gatorade.

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Cebu and Manila split their two previous title showdowns with the Dolphins taking the Series 2 crown before the Sharks bagged the Series 6 crown.

Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series is set on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

Pitchers Charlie Labrador and Jon Jon Robles yielded a combined five hits as the Sharks’ fielders stranded eight runners on base to blank the Patriots to book a place into their fourth consecutive finals dating back to 2008 in Series 5.

Marvin Malig’s RBI singles in the first and eighth inning proved to be enough as pitching and defense did it for the Harbour Centre-backed Sharks.

Cebu’s Jonash Ponce, meanwhile, hit a two-run double in the second inning as the Dolphins put the game away with four runs in the sixth inning backed by a two-run double by Miggy Corcuera.

“We had a hard time with Taguig’s defense and we haven’t played for almost a month. But we will always depend on pitching and defense and that is what the team showed,” said Manila coach Jhoel Palanog.

The league is also backed by are backed by Harbour Centre, The Heritage Park, Emperador Distillers, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Victory Liner and Clark Development Corp.

Taguig starting pitcher Justin Payongayong had a complete game yielding seven hits but didn’t get the run support because of Manila’s fierce defense. The Patriots had five hits and had seven runners in scoring position (runner on second or third) but could not get the hits to put a run across.

Jennald Pareja walked, reached second on a Nino Tator groundout and scored when Malig blasted a hit to left center field to start off the game.

Pareja was also the recipient of Malig’s run-scoring hit in the eighth on a bloop single to shallow left field after Pareja singled, stole second and reached third on a single by Christian Galedo.

The league is supported by Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and dzSR Sports Radio 918.

For more details, log on to www.baseballphilippines.com and www.facebook.com/baseballphilippines. (pr)

Linescore:

Taguig                   000 000 000  0 5 1

Manila                  100 000 01x  2  7 3

Batangas              000 000 020  2 5 3

Cebu                     020 014 20x  9 15 0

Sharks, Dolphins seek finals berths

Games on Saturday
(Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium)
9 a.m. – Manila vs. Taguig
1 p.m. – Cebu vs. Batangas

Manila and Cebu resume their drive to the finals as Baseball Philippines Series
8 holds its twice-postponed semifinal matches on Saturday at the Rizal
Memorial Baseball Stadium.

The three-peat seeking Sharks go up against the Taguig Patriots at 9 a.m. while
the Dolphins, also aiming for their third title in the league, battle the
Batangas Bulls at 1 p.m.

Manila and Cebu, which topped the elims, need only to win once to arrange a
much-awaited best-of-three championship. But the Patriots and the Bulls go all
out to send their respective series to a deciding game.

The event, organized by Community Sports Inc. and sponsored by Gatorade and
Rawlings, are backed by Harbour Centre, The Heritage Park, EmperadorDistillers,
Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Victory Liner and Clark Development Corp.  The
Bulls secured the third spot with a 5-5 record while the Patriots made it to the
semis for the first time since Series 4 in 2008 with a 4-6 card.  Cebu and
Batangas will be facing in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive time with the
Bulls humbling the Dolphins in BP Series 7 to secure a finals spot against the
eventual champion Sharks.

The league is supported by Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic
Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires
Association and DZSR Sports Radio 918.(pr)

Bulls down Uni-bikers, gain semis

Standings                W            L
x-Manila                              8              1
x-Cebu                                 7              2
x-Batangas                          5              5
*Taguig                                                3              5
*Alabang                             2              6
Dumaguete                        1              7

x-clinched semifinal berth
*-playing at presstime

Games Saturday
(Parade Grounds, Clark Field)
9 a.m. – Manila vs. Alabang (resumption of postponed game)
1 p.m. – Cebu vs. Dumaguete

Batangas used a three-run binge in the sixth inning to regain control then leaned on Romeo Jasmin’s solid relief job to pound out a 7-4 victory over Dumaguete, and clinch the third semifinal berth in Baseball Philippines Series 8 at the Parade Grounds in Clark Field, Pampanga, Sunday.

Justin Zialcita notched the go-ahead run in the sixth while Jasmin preserved Batangas’ lead in a relief appearance as the Bulls rolled to their fifth win in 10 outings to advance in the league organized by Community Sports Inc. and sponsored by Gatorade and Rawlings.

Alex Ching tripled to spark Batangas’ fightback in the bottom of the sixth and scored on a Carlo Banzon single to tie the game at four before Zialcita made it a two-run game with a long drive to right field to send Banzon and Randy De Leon home for a 6-4 Bulls lead.

Jojo Apura scored on a catching error in the outfield to add another run in the seventh inning of the match which served as the fifth out-of-town game of the league backed by Clark Development Corp., Victory Liner, SM City Clark and San Miguel Corp.

Jasmin took over in the seventh and never allowed a run, giving up only a hit while striking out two batters to send the Bulls to the next round while booting out the Uni-bikers, who took their seventh loss against a lone victory.

Batangas assistant coach Emerson Barandoc said that the players were tired after defeating the Uni-bikers, 11-0, last Saturday.

“It’s a good thing we recovered in the sixth, then Romeo held on. He really is our closer,” said Barandoc, who took over Randy Dizer, who handles the national softball team competing in the Aspac regional championship in Bacolod City.

The league is backed by Harbour Centre, The Heritage Park, Emperador Distillers, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and DZSR Sports Radio 918. For details, log on to www.baseballphilippines.com.

The Uni-bikers looked poised for an upset win after taking a 4-3 lead in the fifth as Lloyd Arago crushed a double to deep left field to score Pelos Remollo before advancing to home on a ground-rule double by Andy Tan.

Batangas held a 2-0 lead after a two-run single by Apura in the first inning but the Uni-bikers tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Justin Mathay and an RBI single by Arago in the second and third inning respectively.(pr)


Linescores:
Dumaguete        011 020 000 4 8 6
Batangas              200 103 10x 7 9 2

Team Standings    W    L

X-Manila        8    1

X-Cebu        7    2

Batangas        4    5

Taguig            3    5

Alabang        2    6

Dumaguete        1    6

X-clinched semifinals berth

Games on Sunday

(Parade Grounds, Clark Field)

9 a.m. Dumaguete vs Batangas

1 p.m. Taguig vs Alabang

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga—Batangas stepped closer to a semifinal berth after blanking Dumaguete, 11-0, Saturday to win its second consecutive game in the Baseball Philippines Series 8 at the Parade Grounds here.

Vladymir Eguia pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out nine batters as the Bulls scattered 19 hits to improve to a 4-5 win-loss card for their first back-to-back game after losing four straight games.

The Bulls can clinch a semifinal berth today against the Uni-bikers in the first game at 9 a.m. in Clark.

“We are now a complete team. For now, our goal is just make it to the semifinals,” said Batangas coach Randy Dizer.

In the first game, Taguig prevented several comeback bids by Alabang to hack out an 11-8 victory in Baseball Philippines Series 8 at the Parade Grounds here.

The Patriots led 9-4 after five innings then shook off flashes of rallies by the Tigers in the final four innings to gain a one-game lead in the race for the fourth-and-last spot in the semifinals

With the victory, Taguig improved to 3-5 in this league organized by Community Sports Inc. and sponsored by Gatorade, Rawlings, Philippine Transmarine Corporation, The Heritage Park, Emperador Brandy, Victory Liner, Harbour Centre, Clark Development Corporation and Philippine Sports Commission.

The loss sent the Tigers down to 2-6 for fifth place.

Jeff Hardillo had three RBIs while Ka Sulhay Argel scattered three hits in four at-bats as the Patriots won their second game in three outings.

Argel tripled with two outs in the fifth scoring Christian Paul de Leon, who earlier reached first base on an error, for a 9-4 lead.

The Tigers answered with three runs in the eighth as Marco Martinez drilled a one-out RBI single, scoring Julius Visayas then later touched home on a passed ball before Adrian Bernardo drove home older brother Bocboc to cut the deficit to 9-7.

However, Andro Cuyugan hit a groundout with runners in the corners to end Alabang's side. In the bottom half of the same inning, Justin Payongayong drilled a two-run double to left center to put the lead back to four runs, 11-7.

Alabang threatened anew in the ninth when Cuyugan scored from third on a Martinez single with two outs to pull within three runs. The hit also advanced pinch runner Leslie Suntay from first to third.

On the next at-bat, Taguig pitcher Irvin Tuazon made a fielding error that enabled Arcel Aligno to reach base safely, loading the bases for Bocboc Bernardo.

Bernardo, though, swung on the first pitch thrown by Tuazon that resulted in an easy game-ending flyout to right fielder Wilfredo Hidalgo.

The league is also backed by the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and DZSR Sports Radio 918. For details, log on to www.baseballphilippines.com. (PR)

Batangas beats Cebu, 8-5

In the second game, Batangas used a four-run third inning to beat Cebu, 8-5, giving Manila the solo lead in the standings.

A two-run double by Romy Bumagat along with run-scoring hits by Chris Canlas and Tsuyoshi Horibata led to a four-run third inning for the Bulls.

Batangas and Cebu are now tied for second place with a 2-1 card.