North Stars, Kautz Glass earn weekday wins

The Heinz & David North Stars and the Kautz Glass Glazers triumphed on Thursday to edge closer to the first place Speaker Fitial Pirates in a bonus day of baseball in the fall edition of the Saipan Major League at Francisco M. Palacios field in Oleai.

The North Stars received six strong innings from pitcher Brandon Santos, and reliever Ricky Jones picked up the win when his offense provided the necessary runs to help him finish the job to knock off the black and gold, 8-6.

With the win, the second place North Stars (4-3) moved within a half game of the Pirates (4-2), with just a couple of games remaining in the season.

Santos allowed four runs off of five hits and fanned six through six innings, while Jones gave up a hit and a pair of runs through three innings.

The game was all tied up at four apiece after the sixth inning before the North Stars followed up a couple of Pirates miscues with three hits and a sacrifice fly to take the 8-4 lead. Jones had some room to work with when he came into game in the bottom of the inning, and though he surrendered two scores in the bottom of the ninth inning, he was able to end the game with his fifth strikeout.

North Stars’ slugger Ben Jones had the big stick for his team, going 2-for-5 with two base knocks, a run batted in, and a pair of plate crossings, while teammate Martin Camacho entered the game in the fifth and added two singles, a ribby and a score to guide the Stars.

The second game ended with a swap in the standings, as the Kautz Glass Glazers (3-4) leapfrogged the defending champion Rep. Dave Atalig Hustlers (2-4) into third place with a 9-3 upset before the sunset.

The Glazers scored all of the runs that they would need in the bottom of the first inning when Tyrone Omar, Anthony Palacios, J.P. Sablan, and Ben Taisican made their way home in the four run, four hit stanza, and relied on solid pitching to carry them home.

Hurler Franco Flores pitched six and a third innings, fanning four and allowing a pair of runs off of four hits before David Camacho slammed the door shut with a one run, two hit, and four strikeout performance in the final three and two thirds.

The Glazers received plenty of offense from their big “O” as Omar went 3-for-5 on the game with a pair of singles, a double, and two scores. Teammate Palacios also went 3-for-5 with a trio of singles and two scores, and Sablan did the same.

This past weekend’s games fell victim to a barrage of airborne water droplets and remain to be rescheduled.