Sharks overwhelm Bulls, sweep baseball series crown

MANILA, Philippines –  Manila re-asserted its mastery over Batangas and essayed a lopsided 7-0 victory to capture the Dunkin’ Donuts Baseball Philippines Series 7 crown and become the first team to win back-to-back championships at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium yesterday.

Charlie Labrador shut down Batangas’ offensive attack, yielding only three hits to power the Sharks to the win and emerge the finals MVP in the league presented by Dunkin’ Donuts and organized by Community Sports Inc.

Marvin Malig blasted an RBI double in the first inning and Bambol Servo hit an RBI single in the third before the Sharks came through with a big five-run binge in the bottom sixth to tame the Bulls en route to the title romp.

“It’s perfect,” said Manila coach Jhoel Palanog, whose wards, backed by Harbour Centre, took the opener, 8-2. “We made sure that we are prepared even into the little details. Even at the start of the championship, I knew that the guys really want to win this one.”

Labrador had three strikeouts although he yielded three hits to Teddy Landicho, Jojo Apura and Justin Zialcita. Landicho singled and reached second on a sacrifice bunt in the first – the best that any Bull could get all game long.

“I really prepared for this tournament because I was struggling in Series 6,” said Labrador, a native of Sorsogon. “Kabado ako bago maglaro pero noong nahawakan ko na ‘yung bola, buo na loob ko.”

“It was a great effort by the players, the coaches led by Jhoel Palanog and the management headed by Richard Cruz,” said Harbour Centre CEO Mikee Romero.