Titanium ousts Falcons; Aces win

Titanium’s Brian Camacho lifts his left foot to create a torque before he hits the ball during the top of the first inning of Game 1 of their semis series against the Chalan Kanoa Bears in the 2016 Saipan Baseball League yesterday at the Francisco Tan “Ko” Palacios Ballfied. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Titanium and the Falcons had a rubber match for the fourth and last Final Four berth after they and the BSI Aces finished the two-round robin regular season with similar 8-6 records. The Aces won the tiebreak via draw and got the third semis ticket, leaving Titanium and the Falcons to slug it out for the final ticket to the playoff round.

With their season on the line, Titanium and the Falcons had a nip-and-tuck game with the former clinging to a shaky 2-1 lead after six complete innings. Titanium recorded the precarious advantage, thanks to Jhace and Joe Palacios’ RBI single each at the bottom of the second. The Falcons, on the other hand, got their first run from J.R. Suel off a Bradley Lieto sacrifice fly at the top of the fourth.

Titanium, after earning two runs in the second inning, went cold in the next four before a run from Joe Palacios off a Frankie Lieto wild pitch ended the drought and gave the eventual winners more cushion, 3-1, going into the eighth inning.

At the top of the eight, Ian Norita kept the Falcons in the game as he reached off a Titanium error at first base with two outs. Bradley Lieto then flied out at second base to end the inning. Still down, but definitely not out, the Falcons forced Titanium to a 1-2-3 inning at the bottom eighth. Leadoff batter Brian Camacho and Juan Rabauliman flied out to center and first base, respectively, while Ian Lizama was struck out.

At the top of the ninth, Barry Sunumai led off for the Falcons, walked, and made it to second after third batter A.J. Evangelista singled. Earlier, second batter Franklie flied out to center field for the first out, while Sunumai and Evangelista were eventually left stranded at first and second after Titanium pitcher Jhace Palacios struck out Cameron Towai and J.J. Lifoifoi flied out to first.

Jhace Palacios pitched in no relief in their crucial victory, allowing seven hits, while fanning out seven.

Meanwhile, Titanium played back-to-back games as it collided against the Aces in another playoff match last Friday to determine the No. 3 and 4 rankings in the playoffs and the semis pairings.

The Aces went on to take the No. 3 seeding following a 6-3 triumph over Titanium.

A four-run bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Best Sunshine International-backed Aces to victory.

The bottom of the eighth began with the game in a standoff, 2-all, as Titanium forced the tie when Jerald Cabrera scored off their foe’s error at the top. Luis Iguel run off brother Juan’s triple then broke the deadlock, while the former made it a 4-2 advantage when he also reached off Verlance Secharmidal’s single. Secharmidal scored, too, off a wild pitch, while John Tudela’s single brought Lamarc Iguel home and gave the Aces a 6-2 lead.

Joe Palacios relieved Bill Camacho on the mound to stop the bleeding for Titanium as the former got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and keep his team in the game. The Aces were called for the first out earlier when leadoff batter Angel Falig flied out to center.

Joe Palacios went on to bat, too for Titanium at the top of the ninth, but grounded out at first for the team’s second out. Bill Camacho, who singled and advanced to second off a wild pitch, went down first when he was beaten to third. Despite the two quick outs, Titanium did not give up and an RBI single from Jerald Cabrera moved the team within three.

Cabrera went on to make it to second, while Ton Guerrero walked and marched all the way to the third. However, the two Titanium runners were left stranded when Tudela struck out Brian Camacho to end the game in favor of the Aces.

Tudela worked the mound for nine innings and recorded eight strikeouts. He and the rest of the Aces will meet No. 2 seeds and defending champions GSM Brewers in Game 1 of their best-of-three semis series tonight.

The other semis duel, featuring the top-ranked and unbeaten Chalan Kanoa Bears and Titanium, had its series opener last night and results were unavailable at press time.