Tritons’ GML season ends with loss to Rangers

The University of Guam’s O’Neil Yobech pitches against the Talo’fo’fo Rangers in their 2022 Guam Major League wildcard playoff game last Saturday night at the Paseo Stadium. (UOG)

The University of Guam’s Triton Baseball Team ended their spring 2022 Guam Major League season on Saturday night at Paseo Stadium with a 14-8 loss to the Talo’fo’fo Rangers in a wildcard playoff game. 

The Tritons were seeded fourth in the GML playoffs while the Rangers were the final team to make the playoffs as the No. 6 seed. UOG had a regular season victory over the Rangers, 9-8, back on May 30.

The Tritons took the opening lead of the game, 1-0, in the bottom of the first, while the Rangers tied the game in the top of the second. The Tritons came back again to take a 2-1 lead after two innings. The Rangers struck for three runs in the top of the fourth to lead 4-2, but UOG tied the game up 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth.

But the Rangers struck for seven runs in the top of the sixth with the key hit being a bases-loaded double by Brandon Rosario clearing the bases and putting the Rangers up, 11-4. Talo’fo’fo would add three more runs in the top of the seventh to take a 14-4 lead.

The University of Guam’s Kolby Martinez against the Talo’fo’fo Rangers in their 2022 Guam Major League wildcard playoff game last Saturday night at the Paseo Stadium. (UOG)

The Tritons were threatened by being 10-run mercy ruled in the bottom of the seventh, but UOG rallied for four runs to keep the game going, and trailing 14-8 with two more at-bats to go, but the Tritons could only muster one hit over the last two innings to drop the game, 14-8, and were eliminated from the GML postseason.

Pitcher O’Neil Yobech took the loss for UOG, giving up 11 runs and 9 hits over six innings, but the Triton defense also played a major part in the loss, committing 10 errors in the game. Bam Tequero went 3-5 for the Tritons in the game. 

Rollen Rabago led the Rangers, going 4-6 in the game with one double and scoring two runs. Anthony Concepcion got the win for the Rangers, getting 4 Ks in six innings of work.

The University of Guam’s O’Neil Yobeck makes a defensive play against the Talo’fo’fo Rangers in their 2022 Guam Major League wildcard playoff game last Saturday night at the Paseo Stadium. (UOG)

The Tritons finished the season with an 8-6 record, but after a solid start to the GML season, being 7-2 in the first nine games, UOG faded in the final five games, going 1-4 to end the GML spring of 2022. The Rangers moved to 8-5 on the season and now face the Guam Junior Nationals in one of the two semi-final pairing (3-out-of-5 series).

UOG will move on to the Guam Amateur League that starts shortly, and it will be the Tritons fall season. The Tritons have fall tryouts on Thursday and Friday at 4pm, Aug. 25-26, at George Washington High School Baseball Field. The Amateur League starts over the Labor Day weekend with a 10-team league.

“This was a great first step in the return of UOG Baseball to the island of Guam and while we feel disappointed in what this first GML season could have been, I think back to March, an 8-6 record with a GML playoff berth would have been considered a dream season for the team and so it was. We will see what we can do in the Guam Amateur League this fall and build toward our second Guam Major League run in the spring of 2023,” said UOG Athletics director Doug Palmer. (PR)