Saralu leads batting race in SBL

The Brewers? Nokki Saralu, seen here walking to join his teammates celebration, leads the batting race in the 2014 Saipan Baseball League. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Brewers’ Nokki Saralu is alone at the top of the batting race in the 2014 Saipan Baseball League after last Friday’s game at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.
The Brewers’ third baseman went 10-for-18 at bat in the team’s five wins in as many games and is the only batter to average at least .500 with his .556. Saralu leads 19 other batters, including the second-running Phil Celis of the Tigers. Celis has a .412 average off a 7-for-17 performance at the plate and is one of the only two to post at least .400, as third placer Vincent Sablan of the Fielders earned .400 (6-for-15).

The Brewers’ Tyrone Omar and Anthony Deleon Guerrero rounded out the Top 5 after posting .375 (6-for-16) and .368 (7-for-19), respectively. The Fielders’ Jared Sablan went 10-for-28 (.357) to occupy the No. 6 spot, while the Tigers’ Rocco Reyes is at seventh place with his average of .353 (6-for-17).

Six other batters are tied for eighth to No. 13th place as they have identical batting averages of .333. Locked in a six-way standoff are the Brewers’ Jun Rabauliman (7-for-21) and Diego Camacho (7-for-21), the Yankees’ Brian Camacho (6-for-18), the North Starz’ E.J. Tenorio (5-for-15), the Fielders’ Brian McAlister (5-for-15), and the Tigers’ Mark Toves (5-for-15).

Completing the batting leaders based on 15 or more times at bat are the Yankees’ Jerome Delos Reyes (.313/5-for-16); the Brewers’ Byron Kaipat (.294/5-for-17); the Yankees’ Greg Iskawa (.286/6-for-21); the Tigers’ Ton Guerrero (.286/6-for-21); the Fielders’ Zack Flores (.267/4-for-15); the D’9ers’ Tim Guerrero (.250/4-for-16), and the Yankees’ Pay Alepuyo (.221/4-for-19).

In the pitching race, four share the top spot after earning similar 0.00 ERA. The Yankees’ Manny Cabrera pitched 11 innings and gave up no earned runs to join the Tigers’ Peter Lieto (10 innings), the North Starz’s Dave Jones (9.2 innings), and the Fielders’ Tony Benavente (seven innings) in the logjam.

The Brewers’ Vince Cepeda is alone at the second spot with his 0.82 ERA off 11 innings pitched and one earned run, while the D’9ers Jeremy Lizama and the Yankees’ Thomas Joab have identical 1.23 ERA after pitching 7.1 innings and allowing only one run. The Brewers’ Leonard Sablan (seven innings, one run) earned 1.29 ERA to join the chart, along with the Yankees’ Franco Flores (1.50/six innings pitched, one earned run) and Peter Tenorio (1.50/six innings pitched, one earned run).

Meanwhile the Fielders’ Joe Palacios missed the pitching leaderboard, but leads in the strikeouts with his 24. Lieto is in close second with 23 strikeouts, while Cepeda rounded out the Top 3 with his 19.

In other categories, Omar is on top of the runs race with 11, two more than Saralu’s total after the first round, while the Tigers’ Jessie Yamagishi has the most doubles so far with four. In the RBIs, Saralu had 12 to pace the North Starz’s Cedric Ada and the Fielders’ Vincent Sablan, who gained six each.