Dolphins get back at Sharks, take Game 1

Southpaw Joseph Orillana pulled through in a pitching duel with RP mainstay Charlie Labrador as Cebu stopped fancied Manila, 6-3, yesterday to take the opener in their best-of-three showdown for Baseball Philippines’ Series 2 crown at the Rizal Baseball Stadium.

Orillana, 27, yielded three hits and fanned out six batters, including one against first baseman Marvin Malig as he got out of jam in the bottom of the eighth inning.

“I didn’t pitch inside the strike zone. I just focused on sending it to the corners and it worked,” said Orillana, a member of De La Salle’s 2000 and 2003 UAAP champion teams, in Filipino.

Orillana capped his heroics at the bottom of the eighth by striking out Malig with two outs and the bases loaded with the Dolphins preserving a 4-3 lead.

It was the fifth victory in six pitching jobs for Orillana, a native of Antipolo City, after coming into the game with 45 strikeouts in seven matches.

“It was a good pitching job, I have to give it to him (Orillana),” said Cebu team manager Isaac Bacarisas, who steered the RP softball team to the gold medal in the recently concluded Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

It also avenged Cebu’s three straight setbacks to Manila this season, including two in this conference organized by Community Sports Inc.

Labrador had five strikeouts but yielded 15 hits to absorb his second defeat against three wins.

Jerome Bacarisas fired three RBIs (runs-batted in), including a two-run double that capped a three-run splurge in the eighth while Jolash Ponce went four-of-five at bat, and had one RBI.

The Dolphins, who edged the Dumaguete Unibikers, 8-7, in Saturday’s semifinals, gun for a sweep in Saturday’s Game 2.

After Jolash Ponce blasted a two-out double to left field, Migs Corcuera sneaked in a one-run single to turn a one-all deadlock to a 2-1 Dolphins lead in the eighth.

Corcuera and Bacarisas then scored on Emerson Atilano’s double, giving the Dolphins a 4-1 cushion.

But the Sharks refused to give up. With two outs at bottom of the eighth, they leaned a two-run double by Pilot series best hitter Niño Tator to left field to move within, 3-4.

But Orillana fanned out Malig, leaving Edward Landicho, Tator and Elcid Angeles on bases.

A wild pitch by closer Romeo Jasmin and one-run double by Ponce atop the ninth gave the Dolphins two more runs before Orillana put out the next three Manila batters.