CNMI vows to come back vs Guam

 The CNMI Baseball Team returns to the field today and is optimistic of its chances against archrival Guam when they collide at 10am (9am Saipan time) at the Baseball Mont-Dore in New Caledonia.

“I am confident we will rebound from yesterday’s loss,” manager Tony Rogolifoi said in an email to Saipan Tribune a day after the CNM dropped its game against New Caledonia, 2-3, last Wednesday afternoon.

Rogolifoi said they will be doing the necessary adjustments to regain their winning form and beat Guam anew. The Commonwealth sluggers met Guam twice in the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau and prevailed in both matches. In round-robin play, the CNMI won by four, 6-2, and then downed Guam in the semifinals, 6-3, to arrange the gold medal match against Palau.

According to Rogolifoi, Guam is fielding the same players who saw action in last year’s Micro Games.

“Guam has the offensive skills, but with good defense we should be able to play up to par with them. Pitching wise, I believe we have Franco Flores, Vince Cepeda, Tom Joab, and Craig Sanchez ready to the take their pitching responsibilities,” Rogolifoi said.

“We have to work on our batting and adjust to the wind, which blows in from the left field. I told them to try and stay inside the ball and go the opposite field, which favors left-handed hitters. Against New Caledonia, the boys were hitting a lot of grounders and with the new turf these grounders are easily handled,” the CNMI manager added.

Rogolifoi’s wards led New Caledonia, 2-0, with one inning to go, but dropped the match after the hosts scored three unearned runs.

“The seventh inning started with a costly error committed by our third baseman trying to execute a double play to end the match with one out. A routine grounder turned into a blunder when Jess Iguel over threw a possible double play to Juan Maratita, who was covering second, and puts runners on first and third. Starting pitcher Elton Santos then plunked the next batter to load the bases. Franco Flores relieved Santos after the hit by pitch,” Rogolifoi said.

“The second out was a routine grounder to first. With the bases still full, first baseman Byron Kaipat dropped to his knees to catch a hard grounder, however the ball slipped away resulting in the winning run from third,” he added.

Pending yesterday’s results, the CNMI (1-1) shares second place with New Caledonia, Palau, and Fiji, while Guam won its first two games. Fiji and Palau were scheduled to meet in the first game yesterday, while American Samoa was to collide against New Caledonia in the second game.

Only the Top 4 teams after the round-robin play will advance to the playoffs. The Top 2 finishers will battle for the first finals berth with the loser meeting the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 4 game for the second and last championship seat.

“We are taking one game at a time and if our plan works out well, then we have Josh Jones and Elton Santos ready for the playoffs,” Rogolifoi said.

Back-to-back 76s for Taylor

Meanwhile, the golf competitions in the 2011 Pacific Games continued yesterday.

Jeff Taylor gave the CNMI’s its best showing after two rounds of play, as he totaled 152 after shooting 76 on both days. Adam Hardwicke improved to an 86 in the second round after carding an 89 in the opening round last Wednesday. Tony Satur also played better in the second round with his 92, two strokes better than his 94 in the first round. Jess Wabol withdrew from the competition due to his back injury.

After two rounds, Taylor is in seventh place among the more than 40 golfers. He is 11 shots behind leader Adrien Peres of New Caledonia. Peres had a 69 in the second round, one stroke better than his 70 in the first round for a two-day total of 139.

Besides golf and baseball, the CNMI will still compete in beach volleyball and athletics, which will start on Sept. 5 and 3, respectively.

After six days of competition, New Caledonia has collected 32 gold medals, 32 silver, and 13 bronze to lead the 22-nation field. Tahiti stayed in second place with its 16-7-8, while Fiji is at third with its 11-9-14.