D9ers string of luck continues

It was business as usual for the D9ers, going down early to the Pirates, only to go down by more late, as Saipan Major League Baseball continued Wednesday night at the Francisco M. Palacios baseball field.

With the exception of their pitcher and manager, everyone on the Pirates crossed home plate at least once, as they reached the .500 mark, evening their record to 5-5. The black and gold recorded 25 hits over seven innings and will probably have to let their bats take a couple of nights off to recuperate.

The D9ers lost yet another game in their long drawn out season, and not have only rainout games to make up. For all purposes, the season is over for them, but because the statistical information for most valuable player selection will not be complete if the players on other teams don’t have the same attempts in game time situations, the Nine will be asked to return to take their beatings as a courtesy to the contenders.

The Pirates sailed in to Ninerville in the first when lead off hitter John Reyes crossed the plate, followed by Peter Tomokane, Joey Dela Cruz and J.J. Laniyo.

D9ers pitcher John Tenorio had a difficult first inning, being hit four times, allowing four runs, and walking one. It did get a little better in the second as he only allowed three runs off of two hits, and walking another. Crossing the plate were Dayne Lizama, Dela Cruz and James Fleming.

The Pirates got it going early in the third as lead off batter Jason Gay hit a homerun. When the inning was over they scored five, to include Fleming, Reyes, Lizama, and Tomokane to make it 12-0.

The Pirates were up by 12, and just needed to hang on until the seventh to win via the 10-run mercy rule. Rather than hope for the game to go by quickly, the ‘rates added three runs to their total in the fourth, another three in the fifth, a deuce in the sixth, and because they had to bat in the seventh, added four more.

After the seventh inning stretch, the D9ers, down 24-4, needed to score 11 runs to avoid a stoppage the game via the league’s 10-run mercy rule. Instead, they got three outs, sending everyone home early.

The unofficial player of the game was James Fleming, reaching base successfully in each of his six attempts and scoring four times.

SML action continues tonight, as the first place Yankees are challenged by the second place Brewers at the Francisco M. Palacios baseball field. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm.