Brewers rally in 6th to force decider

Lancaster Secharmidal pitched five innings in relief and the GSM Brewers rallied in the sixth to pull off an 8-5 win over the Falcons to force a deciding Game 5 in the 2015 Saipan Baseball League finals on Monday night at the Francisco M. “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.

The Brewers’ Jesse Brel waits for the pitch during the top of the seventh inning of Game 3 of their finals series against the Falcons in the 2015 Saipan Baseball League last Monday night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Brewers, with their backs against the wall, trailed by one after five innings but scored four runs in the top of the sixth, then relied on Secharmidal’s steady pitching and their defense for the Game 4 win.

Game 5 will be played at 7pm tonight.

Secharmidal surrendered four runs, three earned, on four hits while striking out four and walking none. Lenny Sablan started for the Brewers allowing the Falcons to one earned run on four hits and retired one and had two walks.

The Falcons made four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-4 lead, but failed to score after that as Secharmidal shut them down.

Then, it was the Brewers’ turn to cross home plate four times.

Roy Celis led off with a single, while Jesse Brel followed with another single with both of them scoring on a Jun Rabauliman sacrifice fly. Tyrone Omar had an infield fly for the second out.

Lamarc Iguel walked Nokki Saralu while Manny Sablan got on base on a fielding error by Falcons second baseman Peter Lieto. Saralu scored on a Byron Kaipat single then Sablan followed on another single by Pat Alepuyo.

Falcons team manager Doru Camacho then brought in A. J. Lizama, who has struck out 10 and has a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings in the first three games of the best-of-five series, when Vince Cepeda was up to bat.

He struck out Cepeda to end the inning with the Brewers enjoying an 8-5 advantage, which the Brew Crew protected.

Three times the Falcons had runners on base and three times Secharmidal and the Brewers foiled their chances to score.

The lefty Secharmidal, in the bottom of the ninth, forced Iguel to ground out to third then fanned Juan Iguel. He hit Lizama with a pitch and ended the game when Lucio Kalen struck out swinging.

Kaipat drove in three runs with an RBI double and had one run on a perfect 3-for-3 batting while Alepuyo, who struck out in the first, went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Peter Lieto, who posted a 2.57 ERA and had 11 strikeouts in the first three games, pitched 4.2 innings in the start where he gave up four runs, three earned, on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Lizama had a two-RBI triple in the fifth and an RBI double in the third going 2-for-4 with one run, while Frankie Lieto went 2-for-3 with one run and a double.