Patriots look to continue dream to 15

Fresh off another weekend of wins, the Patriots are on a mission to win their 15th straight game this season, but the only remaining undefeated team in the Saipan Little League Baseball Association will face stiff competition this weekend when they take on the Kagman 1-2-3 squad at Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Field.

Whichever team takes the “W” home from the Oleai Sports Complex will still have plenty of ball remaining, and the Patriots are poised to do well with the league’s top hitter and pitcher.

The Patriots have four of the top hitters in the game and Anthony Salas’ 7-for-8 performance through two games last weekend put him atop the heap with an unrivaled .733.

The kid also boasts of the league lead in runs scored (29) and doubles (12), but teammates Jeremy Rabauliman (.593), Brian Camacho (.583), and Jonakin Deleon Guerrero (.538) are hitting with authority, too.

Pitcher Joseph Palacios was leading the Majors with the lowest earned run average but he gave way to Camacho, whose 1.04 ERA through 34 2/3 innings is the best in town. The C-man is also making a reputation for himself as the K-man with 59 strikeouts this season. Palacios has 10 punch-outs to his credit and his 1.83 earned run average is good enough for fourth among the league leaders.

The kids from Kagman 1-2-3 have plenty of pop at the plate in store for the Pats, and the surging squad will be stocked with four of the league’s best. Marsnjo Wabol’s .655 batting average is second only to Salas, and the 11-2 homesteaders back him up with Richard Dela Cruz (.512), Franklin Agulto (.512), and Leroy Regis (.500).

Dela Cruz also fronts Kagman’s pair of pitchers with plenty of power, and is joined by teammate Ignacio Benavente. Dela Cruz is in third place with 61 strikeouts and has a 3.29 ERA, while Benavente chopped his ERA in half to 1.80 over the weekend. The duo is one of the toughest one-two combos in the game, but Kagman doesn’t have a monopoly on powerful pairs.

The third place Hustlers slipped to 9-3 last week but they still have a trio of top dogs on both sides of the plate as slugger Anthony Manalo, multi-talented Daylinne Joseph, and McGarette Dueñas continue to produce.

Manalo fell to third in the league with a .647 batting average after going 0-3, but Joseph surged into second place without throwing a pitch as her 1.64 earned run average and perfect 3-0 record bests all but one of the boys.

McGarette Dueñas has also been a champ from the rubber, but he too suffered in his last outing when his ERA jumped to 3.92.

Inconsistency plagued the Tanapag Braves (8-7) once again, but they still have sole possession of fourth place thanks to the efforts of Charito Kladikm, who leads the northern boys with a .500 batting average though 38 plate appearances.

The McDonald’s squad took another big step toward regaining their swagger over the weekend as they breached the .500 mark for the first time in a while. Now 7-6 on the season, their slump took them out of the pennant race.

While most of their hitters dropped off the radar, their top pitcher boasts the most homeruns at the plate as Peter Tenorio hammered five round-trippers and leads the league with 89 strikeouts.

Once again the As Matuis Twins (5-8) fell further back into their inconsistent world, but sluggers Diego Camacho (.528) and Vince Castro (.500) continued to make good things happen on the offensive side of the ball.

The second-best losing team continues to be the Toyota Matrix, carried by Harry Nakamura and Rocco Reyes, but things are not looking as good for the green and yellow fellows since Nakamura was injured on Sunday.

At .511, Reyes can do it all, and he may have to as the league’s second best striker-outer may be absent from the line-up. Nakamura’s 87 strikeouts would certainly come in handy this weekend, but everyone agrees that they would rather see the tough youngster take care of himself and get well soon before rushing back to the field.

The Ol’Aces (3-10), Red Sox (3-12), and Pirates (2-10) have performed well below the power curve for quite some time, but at least the Ol’Aces thrilled their fans again by earning a two-game win streak led by Roky Matagolai’s .484 batting average and 4.77 earned run average.