Harry, Benji atop final SBL rankings

Slugger Harry Nakamura and southpaw pitcher Benjamin “Benji” Palacios Jr. came out on top of the 2024 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League final individual rankings after their last regular season games last week.

The Bandits’ Nakamura had a solid .640 batting average from 16 hits out of 25 plate appearances. Second is the Padres’ Darion Jones who had a .520 average from 13 out of 25 at-bats, and third was the Cardinals’ Nokki Saralu who racked up a .483 average from 14 out of 29 tries.

Nakamura also led the league with the most RBIs at 17; Saralu and Patrick Tenorio Jr. were tied at 11; and Brian Camacho, Frankie Lieto, and Franko Nakamura shared 10 each.

The most runs scored was a tie between Jerald Cabrera and Poland Masaharu at 20; Saralu collected 19; and J-Boy Mendiola scored 18.

Antonio “Tonchu” Norita led the triples column at three, while Niko Martin and Masaharu hit two each.

Brian Camacho had the most doubles at six; and Harry, Jerome Delos Santos, J.J. Lifoifoi, J.P. Sablan, and Ton Salas have three each.

And, only five players hit a home run each—Ben Flores, Dennis Cabrera, Eli Aughenbaugh, Jesus Iguel, Tony Tenorio.

On the bump, Palacios Jr. of the Blue Jays led all other pitchers with his sub one earned run average at 0.53. He pitched seven games and 26.2 innings, while he recorded a 3-0 win-loss record and had two earned runs and 14 hits against him.

Second was K.J. Villagomez from the Cardinals who recorded a 1.04 ERA, three ER, and 13 hits in four games and 20.1 innings pitched. He also had a 3-0 record. Third was the Bandits’ Jose Lizama Jr. at a 1.16 ERA, six ER, and 30 hits, in nine games and 36.2 innings pitched. He came out with a 6-1 record.

The strikeout king was Lizama Jr. who put the lights out on 46 batters; Aaron Camacho and Palacios Jr. had 36 victims each; Jason Reyes sat down 31; Jeffrey Lizama, Keahi Omupas, and Villagomez said goodbye to 27 each; Jylon Sablan rejected 26; and R.J. Riungel struck out 20.

In the final regular season standings, the Falcons clinched the pennant with their 9-1 record; Bandits and Padres are tied at 8-2; the Cardinals are at 7-3; Sandlot, Braves, and Blue Jays are 6-4 each; and Royals are at an even 5-5; Bears are 4-6; D-9er’s are 3-7; White Sox are 2-8; Natives are 1-9; while Blue Shark lost all their games at 10 losses.