Bulls blast Sharks in BPCS opener

Bulls 13, Sharks 4

Throughout Series 5, the Batangas Bulls dominated the rest of the league with their strong efforts on both sides of the field. And in Game One of the Baseball Philippines Championship Series they showed why.

Behind an 18-hit attack and a solid pitching effort, the Bulls coasted to an easy 13-4 rout of the Manila Sharks to move within one victory of claiming their second title in team history.

Although the score was a lopsided one, the teams were neck and neck through the first four and a half innings before the Bulls broke away in the fifth frame behind a telling seven-run binge to take the series opener.

The absence of team manager Randy Dizer, who is coaching the Philippine team in the Asia Pacific Regional tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, hardly affected the Bulls, whose pitching also delivered behind starter Vladimir Eguia and relievers Romeo Jasmin and Randy de Leon.

Although the championship is an inch closer to them, Batangas' assistant team manager Emerson Barandoc is expecting a shark attack by Manila in Game Two.

"We're a win closer to the title, but the ball is round. Anything can still happen," said Barandoc, who shared managerial duties with coach Robert Duliesco.

With runners in the corners and no outs in the fifth, Jasmin shattered a 3-3 tie off Sharks reliever Mick Natividad when he drilled a one-run single to right field that brought home Carlo Banzon from third.

In the next at bat, Ericson Eguia continued his amazing afternoon by roping a first pitch, two-run triple to left field that scored Jojo Apura and Jasmin for a 6-3 advantage.

The Bulls added four more runs in the frame to stretch their margin to seven runs, 10-3, and never looked back.

From there, the pitching took over as Jasmin allowed just one hit in three innings to frustrate the Sharks offense.

"Our hitting and pitching came through for us today. That was our goal heading into this game," Barandoc said.

Lefty Vladimir Eguia started for the Bulls and struck out five Manila batters despite allowing them to take a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning.

The reason for that was a two-run double by JB Castro that drove in Jennald Pareja and Christian Galledo and another rbi-double by Marvin Malig in the top of the frame.

But Ericson was the Eguia that stood out for the Bulls.

After putting his team on the board with an rbi-single in the first inning, Eguia drove home Edwin Mercado and Apura from third and second respectively with a two-run single to tie the game in the bottom half of the third.

Ericson would finish the game with six runs batted in after collecting four hits in five at bats.

Natividad, who last week was responsible for eliminating the Alabang Tigers in the semi-finals, struggled as he yielded seven runs in the fifth inning to be adjudged as the losing pitcher.

The Sharks sought to upset the Bulls right from the game's opening pitch when Pareja was hit by a pitch before advancing to second on a bunt attempt by Galledo.

But veteran Romy Bumagat, who was batting third in the line-up, had to leave the game after fouling off a ball that caused a laceration above his right eyebrow.

Bumagat, who also got his eye swollen because of the incident, received several stitches before he was brought to a nearby clinic for observation.

Manila did have a chance to break the 3-3 tie in the top of the fourth inning when two men reached base on consecutive at bats. After Raffy Dimaculangan was retired on a groundout and Jake Ilao struck out, Pareja drew a walk to load the bases. However, Galledo failed to put the Sharks back in the driver's seat after being retired on a groundout to end the side.

The Bulls responded with that seven-run outburst in the fifth and Manila never threatened again.

BOXSCORE

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