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Bandits, Falcons edge foes in baseball
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Posted on Apr 03 2023
A Bandits player slides safely into home plate as Blue Jays catcher Franklin Norita waits for the ball during their game last Wednesday in the Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League 2023 at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Filed. (LEIGH GASES)
The Bandits and Falcons have both earned their first win in the Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League 2023 season, with games played at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.
The Bandits stole the W from the Blue Jays, 14-4, in a mercy-run ruled game last Wednesday, while the Falcons triumphed over the SFC Survivors (formerly the Comets), 8-1, last Tuesday.
With a 1-2-3 outing of the Blue Jays lineup in the opening inning, the Bandits in turn made the Blue Jays’ pitcher work. The Bandits’ John Wilson hit a single then later stole second and third base. He eventually made it home on a passed ball by Blue Jays catcher Franklin Norita.
The Bandits’ Wally Emul then hit a triple and brought in Ben Taisacan for a 2-0 game.
A run was scored by the Blue Jays’ Kyle Foreman in the second for a one-run Bandits lead.
In the third inning, a wild pitch allowed the Bandits’ Juan Iguel to reach home and multiple stolen bases by Emul and Tyrone Omar allowed them to reach scoring positions, for a 5-run inning.
The Bandits were silenced in the third but came back to lengthen the lead in the fourth with seven runs scored. Taisacan and Emul were hit by pitches consecutively that put them on base, which the rest of the lineup capitalized on.
The Blue Jays now had a 13-run deficit and only mustered up three more runs in the last inning from a triple by Alvin Takai who brought in James Salalila.
In the Falcons-SFC Survivors game, multiple strikeouts were dealt from the hand of Falcons pitcher Alvin Hocog and the only run scored by the Survivors was in the first inning from a double by Luis Diaz.
It was a pitching duel as both offenses would come up empty until a run off a fielding error brought in Henry Aguon in the second for a tie ball game.
Then, the Falcons’ top of the lineup delivered in the fifth inning as Giovani Mica’s single brought in M.J. Aldan and Ian Norita. Another hit by Jordan Suel brought Mica in for a 5-1 lead.
The Survivors still could not find the groove in their swings as they hit multiple ground-outs and struck out 10 times.
The Falcons capitalized on the Survivors’ nonexistent offense and brought in three runs in the last inning for the seven-run win.
