Braves, Comets players stand out

A Braves pitcher makes eye contact with his catcher before throwing against the Red Sox during their Junior League regular season game in the SLLB at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Braves maybe out of race for the Junior League division crown, but their two players are still in the hunt for the batting and pitching top honors.

Joe Tudela, as of May 22, is on top of the batting chart with his .485 average, while his teammate Vicente Camacho leads the pitching contest with his 0.63 ERA.

Camacho gave up two runs in 22 innings pitch to lead four others in the race for the pitching champ trophy. The Braves pitcher is ahead of the Enforcers’ Pedro Maratita (0.70 ERA) and J.P Celis (0.75) and the Falcons’ Spencer Dickinson (0.96) and Tyrese Camacho (1.03). Maratita also gave up two runs in 20 innings, while Celis allowed three earned runs in 28 innings. Dickinson and Tyrese Camacho surrendered four runs each in 29 and 27 innings pitched, respectively, and the latter has the most strikeouts (48).

The pitching leaders were based on 12 or more innings pitched and the final rankings will be determined once the statistics of the last two games in the regular season are tallied. The regular season concluded last Saturday with the Falcons and the Enforcers ending up tied for the top spot with their similar 9-3 records, but the former went on to win the pennant after prevailing in a rubber match last Sunday, 2-0.

The batting stats of last Saturday’s matches have yet to be included, too, in the information released by SLLB organizers, so Tudela is still ahead after going 17-for-35 at the plate. The Falcons’ Aven Evangelista is in second place with his .450 batting average off an 18-for-40 performance at bat. Vicente Camacho is ranked third .428), while Dickinson (.421) and the Braves’ Philip Kapileo (.421) rounded out the Top 5.

Kapileo has the most RBIs so far with 11, just ahead by one against the Enforcers’ Dennis Cabrera, who leads the division in triples with 3. Tudela and Evangelista, on the other hand, pace the doubles and runs contests with 6 and 16, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the Senior League, the Comets’ Ethan Babauta is lording it over both in the batting and pitching races.

As of May 22, Babauta has posted a batting average of .468. He was 15-for-32 at the plate to place ahead of the Red Sox’s Delin Reusora (.466) and Kimo Angailen (.463), Richard Atalig (.439), and Ace Evangelista (.432) of the pennant champions Falcons.

Though ranked fourth in the batting chart, Atalig is ahead in three other categories: home run (2), RBIs (14), and strikeouts (51). Reusora and the Enforcers’ Virgil Secharmidal have the most triples and runs with 3 and 17.

In the pitching contest, Babauta has gained a 0.38 ERA after allowing only two runs in 36 innings pitched. His teammate—Brandon Pua—also gave up two runs, but pitched only 20 innings, leaving the latter with the second-best ERA of 0.70. Secharmidal (0.87), the Red Sox’s Tindin Leon Guerrero (1.00) and Atalig (1.02) are in the Top 5.