Falcons peaking at the right time

Mike Pangelinan joined Kim Jae Young of Komoro as the only players so far to have registered an outside-the-park homerun in the 2008 Budweiser Saipan Major League.

And the Tanapag Falcons’ first baseman couldn’t have found a better time to hit the over-the-fence homer than the defending champions’ 26-7 mercy shortened win against Kabur Monday night in the resumption of the islands’ premier baseball competition.

With the score at 9-2 in the top of the fourth, Pangelinan came up to bat against Jason Hayes and didn’t waste time in joining Kim in the elite list with a looper that went way, way above the head of Kabur leftfielder Payton Sakuma at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

Falcons scored four more runs in the fourth to increase its lead to 14-2 and Darson Camacho continued to hold down Kabur’s hitters in the fifth by shutting down John Tuti, Hayes, and Leo Bobai in 1-2-3 fashion.

Kabur showed some signs of life in the fifth—after the Falcons scored four more runs in the top of the inning—by managing four home plate-crossings of its own on consecutive RBIs by Hayes, Ray Renguel, and Darwin Masaharu to make it 18-6.

But that was too weak of an explosion from Kabur’s top of the order to make a dent on the Falcons’ mammoth lead.

To make matters worse, the Falcons just continued to pile up the runs in the sixth as Jess Taitano drove in Pangelinan and Sid Sablan and Henry Iguel did the same for Doro Camacho, while Oscar Sablan reached on an error to make it 22-6.

J.R. Suel then took over from Camacho on the mound, and the reliever actually even improved on the starter’s numbers as he gave up only three hits and one run the rest of the way.

That run came in the bottom of the seventh—the Falcons tucked in four more runs in the top of what turned out to be the final inning—when Masaharu’s lone run made it 26-7.

That was it for Kabur though as Suel forced Hayes to ground out to first base and Bobai tagged out at third after a fielder’s choice on Sakuma’s at-bat.

Justin Quitano led the Falcons’ offensive force, going 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Suel, Manny Evangelista, and Pete Teigita also went .500 at the batter’s box and also recorded two RBIs apiece in the win.

Camacho was efficient from No. 1 spot, striking out five batters in five innings that saw him surrender eight hits that led to six runs while only being assessed an error.

McQueen Masaharu led Kabur’s losing cause by going 2-for-3 and driving home one run. Hayes, Bobai, Hector Efrain, and Renguel also regsistered RBIs each. The loss was the 11th in 13 games for Kabur, which in only a half game better than 1-11 win-loss card of tailender O’Conner Tigers.

BSML action continued last night, Tuesday, July 8, with the suspended game between Komoro and D-9ers.

Today, July 9, D-9ers will take on Korean Dreams. On Thursday, July 10, Kabur will then square off against the Rangers; and on Friday, July 11, Komoro will play the Rangers.

If everything goes well as far as Mother Nature is concerned, according to BSML coordinator Tony Rogolifoi, the playoffs will begin on Monday, July 14.