Bulls, Sharks down rivals

MANILA, Philippines –  Batangas rolled into the semifinal round of the Dunkin’ Donuts Baseball Philippines Series VII in style, beating Taguig, 7-5, yesterday to complete its sweep of the single round elims at the Felino Marcelino Baseball Stadium in Taguig City.

Jojo Apura pushed home the go-ahead run in the fifth while Charles Catangui had two RBIs in a four-run binge in the eighth to propel the Bulls to their fifth straight victory for the twice-to-beat advantage in the semis slated tomorrow.

The loss dropped Taguig to 1-4 and out of the semis in the league presented by Dunkin’ Donuts and Community Sports Inc.”

In the second game, Manila outslugged Quezon City, 11-8, to clinch the other twice-to-beat edge with a 4-1 card.

The defending champion Sharks, sponsored by Harbour Centre, scored five runs in seventh and Marvin Malig crushed a two-run home run in the eighth to neutralize QC’s home runs courtesy of Ernesto Binarao and Marlon Caspillo.

Top-seed Batangas will face Alabang at 9 a.m. while Manila will take on Cebu at 1 p.m. in the best-of-three semifinals tomorrow (Monday) with the Bulls and Sharks needing to win just once to arrange a title clash.

Apura’s single scored Vio Roxas after he doubled in the fifth to break a 2-2 count after both teams exchanged runs in the third frame.

Apura hit another RBI in the seventh, scoring Jose San Juan before Catangui cracked a double to left field to score Roxas, who reached first on a hit-by-pitch, and Apura. Tsuyoshi Horibata singled to score Catangui to complete the four-run splurge.

Taguig cut the deficit to two runs in the eighth after Andro Cuyugan and Christian De Leon scored on errors and Ferdinand Recto singled for a Gil Encarnado run. But the hosts failed to sustain their fightback.

De Leon’s two-run double opened scoring for the Patriots at the top of the third but San Juan and Apura tied the game on run-scoring hits in the bottom half of the third.

The league is sponsored by Gatorade, Rawling’s, Industrial Enterprises Inc., Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Harbour Centre and The Heritage Park with the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and Sports Radio 918 AM as partners.