Bulls roar back to beat Tigers
by Jonas Terrado
Bulls 5, Tigers 3
The Batangas Bulls saw a much-competitive Alabang Tigers this time around but still left the field with yet another win.
Trailing by two runs in the middle part of the contest, the Series 3 champion Bulls rallied in the latter stretch to defeat the Tigers, 5-3, that earned them a share of first place with the Manila Sharks after the first weekend of Baseball Philippines Series 5.
Behind national team member Vio Roxas and youthful Jojo Apura, Batangas secured its second straight win in the tournament and also recorded the team’s best start in history.
Alabang, meanwhile, dropped to 0-2 to tie the Forward Taguig Patriots for last spot.
But they had to recover from a 3-1 deficit in order to achieve such feat which Apura and Roxas did.
Roxas hit an RBI double to left field that drove home fellow RP team mainstay Chris Canlas before scoring the tying run off Apura’s RBI single to right field.
Gaining momentum on that two-run fourth, the Bulls overtake the Tigers in the sixth when Jesse Natanauan, who got a single and reached third on a Romeo Jasmin hit, scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball by Tigers’ catcher Wilfredo Hidalgo.
An inning later, catcher Junifer Pinero, who starred on opening-day with a three-run homer, allowed Miguel Zuluaga to touch home plate on a double as Batangas secured the final tally.
Roxas bounced back from a hitless performance in the first game with two hits in four at-bats while Apura also connected on the same amount of hits.
Batangas reliever Randy de Leon, who entered the fifth frame, was credited with the win after tossing three no-hits while ace hurler Vladimir Eguia closed out Alabang by retiring all three batters in the ninth frame.
Team manager Randy Dizer opted to give Romeo Jasmin his first-ever start since joining the Bulls in the offseason. But the Adamson stalwart allowed his former team to gain a 2-0 lead.
To make things worse, Alabang growled to a 3-1 edge when Jasmin gave up a Matt Laurel solo home run in the fourth.
Despite the shaky outing, Jasmin was able to record four strikeouts in five innings.