The other Eguia helps Bulls go 4-0
by Jonas Terrado
Bulls 6, Uni-Bikers 1
Vladimir Eguia is perhaps one of the best pitchers in the country and it's quite usual for him to receive the credit almost every game.
But this time, his older brother - Ericson Eguia - took centerstage in helping the Batangas Bulls solo lead in Baseball Philippines Series 5.
Not much of a power-hitter, Eguia drilled a tiebreaking three-run home run in the fourth inning as the Bulls defeated the struggling Dumaguete Uni-Bikers, 6-1, Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
With two men on base - Vio Roxas at second and Junifer Pineron on first - Eguia smacked a pitch from losing pitcher Justin Payongayong past the right field fence that propelled Batangas to erase a 1-1 tie.
That homer was enough to give the Series 3 champions the lead that they never relinquished.
In a breakout performance, Eguia finished with two hits in three at-bats while Roxas and Pinero had two hits and drove an runner each as the Bulls grabbed sole possession of first place at 4-0, a first in the team's two-year run.
Aside from Eguia, pitcher Randy de Leon continued the misery of the Dumaguete offense, retiring 19 of the 21 batters he faced and allowed a run and a walk in six innings of work.
The Uni-Bikers, who had just three hits made in the game, succumbed to their third defeat in as many games to join the Forward Taguig Patriots as the only two teams that never won a game in the tournament thus far.
But Dumaguete was on the verge of winning one early, when Joeboy de Mesa scored from second after a fielding error by de Leon in the second frame.
However, the Batangas recovered two innings later. A Nikko Dizer double and a Roxas single put runners in the corner to set up Pinero's hit into center to even the count.
From there, Eguia took matters into his own hands to put his team in front.
Payongayong struggled in his first start of the tourney, allowing six hits in four innings while relievers Joey Sta Maria and Christian de Leon weren't enough to salvage the Uni-Bikers' dilemma of not having ace pitcher Darwin dela Calzada around.
Dela Calzada was ineligible pitch after he threw 99 in the first game of the weekend series, 24 more than the required 75-pitch rule in order to hurl the succeeding match.
Batangas goes for another win when they battle the hapless Forward Taguig Patriots while Dumaguete meets Alabang on Saturday.