Titanium spoils Mariners’ SBL debut

Bill Camacho pitched six solid innings, while Lucio Kalen drove in two runs as Titanium defeated the Mariners, 12-7, in their rain-shortened match in the Saipan Baseball League last Friday night at the Francisco M. Palacios Ballfield.

Intermittent rains halted the game and league officials decided to call it off when a heavy downpour interrupted the match for the third time and made the field wet. The game was suspended at the top of the eighth when the Mariners were about to bat and victory was awarded to Titanium based on league rules on rained-out matches (game must be played for at least five innings)

Camacho was on the mound for six complete innings, giving up four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk. He even tossed three-shutout and one-hit innings from the first to third with Titanium holding on to a one-run lead.

Kalen, meanwhile, let his bat do the talking, going 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs. He had an RBI single in Titanium’s six-run inning in the fifth where three other batters got on base on walks three times and the Mariners’ defense committed two costly errors.

Gerald Cabrera went 2-for-2 also for Titanium with two runs—one brought Kalen home at the bottom of the fifth. Tony Deleon Guerrero had an RBI double in the fourth, as the Titanium shortstop went 2-for-5 with two runs.

Joe Villagomez, Nate Smith, and Nate Guerrero alternated on the mound for the debuting Mariners and surrendered a combined 14 hits, five strikeouts, and four walks.

GSM 18, Ballistics 0
Kevin Kapileo had 13 strikeouts, as GSM made short work of the Ballistics, 18-0, last Thursday night.

The game lasted only five innings, as Kapileo limited the Ballistics to two hits and had 1-2-3 innings the rest of the way after needing five batters to end the first.

Keola Camacho, Ben Leon Guerrero, J-Boy Mendiola, and Ricky Joe Riungel all went 0-for-2 against Kapileo.

Franco Nakamura went 1-for-2 ,but had three runs and three RBIs, including a two-RBI single in GSM’s eight-run scoring barrage in the fourth. Veteran Byron Kaipat went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs, while Pat Alepuyo was 2-for-3, scored twice, and had an RBI. Jerome Delos Santos added two doubles on a 2-for-4 batting with two runs and two RBIs.

GSM had 11 hits against the Ballistics’ bullpen—composed of Riungel, Jake Santos, and Adolpho Rogopes with the latter closing out for the team. Santos pitched in relief and had four strikeouts, but was tagged with 12 runs on nine hits.

Meanwhile, SBL action continues tonight with the 2016 season champions C.K. Bears battling the Jonathan Tenorio-managed Indians at 6:30pm.