Saralu, Cepeda are batting, pitching champs

GSM Brewers slugger Nokki Saralu and ace hurler Vince Cepeda became the batting and pitching champions of the 2015 season of the Saipan Baseball League.

Vince Cepeda’s steady presence on the mound helped the GSM Brewers clinch the pennant. The right-hander topped the ERA and strikeouts departments after the elimination round of the 2015 Saipan Baseball League. (Jon Perez)

Saralu, who was batting .385 last month to join three others from eighth to 11th places, surged ahead from the rest of the field in the final two weeks of the elimination round and in the process helped the Brewers sweep their last three games.

The Brew Crew’s third baseman finished with a league-best .541 average against the .452 each of runners-up Davie Matagolai of the Jets and Jesse Brel, Saralu’s teammate.

The Falcons’ A.J. Lizama, who also finished third in pitching with a 1.38 ERA, placed fourth in batting (.436), while former batting leader Gary Cruz of the Saipan Stevedore Yankees dropped to fifth (.452).

Peter Tomokane (Yankees, .412); Ricardo Dela Cruz (North Starz, .405); Jimmy Brel (Fielders, .400); Jun Rabauliman (Brewers, .385); Verlance Secharmidal (Fielders, .368); Pat Alepuyo (Brewers, .348); Keola Camacho (Jets, .353); Jerome Delos Santos (Yankees, .350); Goro Iskawa (Falcons, .333); and Palmerson Mongkeya (Jets, 333) complete the batting list.

Saralu also topped the doubles department with six followed by the five and four each of the Yankees’ Brian Camacho and the Fielders’ Cedric Ada, while Yankees teammates Jerome Delos Santos and Cruz made the most runs and RBIs with 17 and 21 apiece.

Two other Yankees finished second behind Delos Santos, Ben Jones Jr. and Tomokane with 16 each, while the Yankees’ Camacho and Secharmidal of the Fielders had 17 and 12 RBIs, respectively.

Secharmidal made the most number of triples with four while Dela Cruz of the North Starz had three and two each. The Falcons’ Lizama blasted two home runs this season followed by teammate Ned Norita, the Yankees’ Jones, and the Fielders’ Brel with one apiece.

Cepeda led the pitching department from start to finish with a league-best 1.05 ERA and edging the Falcons’ Peter Lieto in strikeouts, 56 against 55. The Jets’ Mike Muna and the Fielders’ Joe Palacios recorded 42 and 37 strikeouts the whole season.

Falcons teammates Lieto and Lizama came in second and third in ERAs with 1.29 and 1.38 each followed by Palacios’ 1.73 and the 2.57 of Dave Jones of the Falcons.

The North Starz’s Jonathan Tenorio (3.00), Yankees pitchers Peter Tenorio (3.46) and Kelvin Kapileo (3.86), the Jets’ Muna (4.05), and Dela Cruz of the North Starz (4.20) complete the ERA list.