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THE
North All-Stars defeated their Southern counterparts,
13-5, in the All-Star Game Sunday to usher in the
Baseball Philippines Series III tournament at the Rizal
Memorial Baseball Stadium.
A
five-run binge by the North All-Stars in the second
inning on four hits and five South errors set up the
lopsided victory after a 1-1 first inning.
“We just
took advantage of their errors,” North manager Joel
Palanog said. Catcher Rommel Roja of the Manila Sharks
took the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the game honors
after a three-of-four outing and scoring two runs and
tallying two RBIs (runs-batted-in).
Roja
singled to push home John Apura that started off the
second-inning binge off Series II MVP Joseph Orillana of
the Cebu Dolphins.
The
South tried to come back with Jerome Bacarisas of the
Dolphins coming up with a two-run double to start off a
four-run sixth inning to chop the deficit to three runs,
8-5.
But the
North All-Stars widened the gap further with Roja
pushing home Edito Justo, who earlier singled, to start
off the five-run spree by the North in the eighth.
Also
with the victory, the representative of the North in the
championship of Series III will gain the home-field
advantage in the best-of-three titular showdown.
Meanwhile, the formal start of the tournament begins on
March 30 at the Rizal Ballpark.
Defending champion Cebu takes on the Forward Taguig
Patriots at 7 a.m., while expansion Batangas Bulls
collide with the Dumaguete Unibikers at 10:30 a.m.
Runner-up Manila Sharks face the Makati Mariners to end
the tripleheader at 2 p.m. |
