Yankees win help Brewers clinch pennant

The Saipan Stevedore Yankees survived the Falcons’ comeback bid, escaping with a 6-4 decision in the final elimination round game in the 2015 Saipan Baseball League on Wednesday night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” M. Palacios Baseball Field.

The Falcons’ Haini Blas slides to home plate avoiding the tag of Yankees pitcher Tommy Joab in their game in the 2015 Saipan Baseball League on Wednesday night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” M. Palacios Baseball Field. (Jon Perez)

The Yankees swept its head-to-head match up against the Falcons after also beating them in the first round, 8-5. The win also gave the defending champion GSM Brewers a free ride to clinch the pennant and in the process force a two-way tie for second place.

The Brewers earned the top ranking with an 8-2 card, while the Yankees and the Falcons ended up tied with identical 7-3 slates with the latter earning the No. 2 seeding based on their two wins in the elimination round.

The Brewers will face the IP&E Fielders tonight at the start of the best-of-three playoffs, while the Yankees-Falcons series begins on Monday. Both matches begin at 7pm.

The Brewers and Fielders split their elimination round matches with the defending champs winning, 13-3, in the season opener last Jan. 12, while the latter avenged the loss with a 10-9 decision in the second round.

In the Yankees-Falcons final eliminations match, Tommy Joab pitched three innings in relief and managed to get out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth after their opponents tacked in two runs in an attempt to either force an extra inning or snatch the game.

Joab gave up a leadoff single to A.J. Lizama and hit Ned Norita with his third pitch to put runners at first and second. He then forced Dave Jones to ground out to third baseman Pete Tomokane for a quick double play tagging out Lizama and the Falcons pitcher.

Norita, who stole third, scored on a Haini Blas RBI single, while the Falcons center fielder moved to scoring position on an error by Yankees shortstop Carl Camacho, who failed to field a Jeremy Atalig grounder.

Blas reached home plate on a passed ball but Aaron Benavente, who came in as a pinch runner to Atalig, was left stranded on base after Falcons designated hitter Nunu Kapileo grounded out on a game-ending putout play.

Joab surrendered two runs, one earned, on two hits with no strikeouts and no walks. Veteran Mel Sakisat tossed six innings in start and was tagged with one earned run on 11 hits while retiring five and walking two batters.

Tomokane, who struck out three times, went 2-for-5 scoring twice in the game and had RBI singles each in the seventh and ninth innings. Robert Bansil had an RBI and a double in a 2-for-4 appearance at the plate.

The loss wasted the 10 strikeouts of Peter Lieto, who finished second to Vince Cepeda of the Brewers in pitching, and the Lizama’s 5-for-5 batting.