The top seeded squad led by Truman Hernaez swept its first two assignments and drew with Data Access Enterprises before edging erstwhile co-leader Dar Obets Movers, 2-1, in the fourth round.
Hernaez and board two player Allan Macala scored 3.5 points apiece while Ricardo Briones contributed 2.5 to give Bataan a full point cushion over Data Access and Dar Obets going into the halfway mark of the three-man team event.
Leading the Data Access charge were NM Rolly Martinez and Rainier de Guzman with 3.0 points each while board three bet C. Valledor chipped in 2.0.