CNMI loses gold medal match vs Guam

The Commonwealth bets, who also placed second to host Palau in the 2010 Micro Games, trailed early and fell short in their comeback bid in the last three innings to hand Guam the gold medal.

Guam gained control of the match at the top of the second inning, scoring five runs and after the CNMI got two runs backs at the bottom, the eventual champion answered with three runs at the top of the third for an 8-2 advantage.

John Salas gave Guam its first run off a fielder’s choice, while Pollycard Luther registered the second run off an error from CNMI shortstop Jared Sablan. Salas then notched his second run off Greg Iskawa’s passed ball, as Guam’s top of the order started its second trip at bat for a 3-0 lead. Guam’s two other runs at the top of the second came off an RBI walk against CNMI relief pitcher Peter Lieto and a sacrifice fly from Ryan Martinez.

At the bottom second, Tyrone Omar teamed up with leadoff batter Rocco Reyes in putting the CNMI on the board, Reyes, who moved to first off a miscue from Luther at shortstop, advanced to second off a wild pitch and was brought to third by Tom Camacho’s single to rightfield before Omar’s base hit to leftfield brought him home. Camacho later stole home to cut the deficit to two and the CNMI had a chance to move closer with Omar making it to third and Joshua Jones stealing second, but bungled the opportunity when Jared Sablan flied out to centerfield.

Guam got back the two runs and saved one each at the top of the third and fifth for the seven-run lead, which it kept after shutting out the CNMI in the next four innings. After the four-inning spell, the CNMI got into the board in the next two, firing one run in the seventh and three in the eighth to threaten Guam, 6-10. However, Guam went for a strong finish, collecting four runs at the top of the ninth and and shut the door on the CNMI in the last inning.

John Pangelinan towed Guam to the gold medal win, as he pitched in no-relief in nine innings and though he gave up 14 hits and six earned runs, he managed to strike out 10 CNMI batters. The Commonwealth used five different pitchers to neutralize Guam, but to no avail. Roy Celis was the third one, followed by Joseph Palacios, and closer Vince Cepeda. Interestingly, Joshua Jones did not pitch in the gold medal match. A message to statistician AJ Murig asking why Jones was missing on the mound has yet to be returned at press time last night.

At bat, Jones was 1-for-2 and scored one of the four late runs for the CNMI. Reyes recorded two runs off a 2-for-5 performance at the plate, while Omar, Tom Camacho, and Ben Jones had two RBIs each. Omar was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 and scored one run, while Ben Jones was 2-for-5, and Tom Camacho hit 2-for-4.

Rico Castro, Brian Balajadia, Matthew Muna, Shon Muna Jr. , and Salasalso nailed two RBIs apiece for Guam, which got crucial runs at the top of the ninth off the CNMI’s fielding booboos. Ryan Martinez added only one RBI, but was 3-for-5 at bat and scored four times. Jared Palomo scored the lone homer in the game at the top of the fifth.

Meanwhile, deposed champion Palau joined Guam and the CNMI in the medal podium after beating Pohnpei in the consolation match.

With Guam getting the gold it baseball, it zeroed it on the overall championships in the Games after boosting its medal haul to 38 golds, 26 silvers, and 11 bronze. Pohnpei is in second place with its 34-42-34 tally, while Palau rounds out the Top 3 with its 33-26-34. The CNMI (14-15-5) is still in sixth place after the silver medal in baseball.