Raging Bulls capture Series baseball crown

MANILA, Philippines – Batangas clipped Manila with its superb pitching and crushed its rival with key hits to hammer out a 12-2 rout and complete a sweep of Baseball Philippines’ Series 5 at the Rizal Memorial baseball stadium yesterday.

Vladimir Eguia struck out six batters while yielding five hits and Batangas’ battery of hitters peppered Manila pitchers Mick Natividad and Christian Galedo with 16 hits as the Bulls smothered the Sharks for their second championship in the league organized by Community Sports, Inc.

The 20-year-old Eguia, who also keyed the Bulls’ 13-4 romp in the opener of their best-of-three series last week, went on to capture the finals MVP honors and the best pitcher award.

The title sweep thus capped Batangas’ sterling campaign in the tournament as the Bulls won all but one of their 14 games on their way to the crown, highlighted by a 10-game sweep of the classification round and a win over the Cebu Dolphins in the Final Four.

“Before the start of Series 5, we felt that we’re the underdogs but as the tournament progressed, we knew we had a chance to win it all,” said Bulls’ Randy Dizer, who was later named Series 5’s best manager.

The left-handed Eguia, playing out of UP, picked up where he left off last week as he stymied Manila’s offense despite throwing 123 pitches with reliever Romeo Jasmin forced to go out with injury.

Jasmin, who shares pitching chores with Eguia, left the game early in the opening frame after sustaining a pulled left hamstring injury as he tried to reach first base.

The Adamson U hurler was later named the tournament’s MVP after dishing off a batting average of .233 off seven hits in 30 at-bats with three RBIs (runs-batted-in).

A former UAAP MVP and best pitcher winner, Jasmin was a key addition to the Bulls roster after he moved out of the Alabang Tigers prior to the start of Series 5 of the tournament sponsored by Gatorade, Industrial Enterprises Inc., Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc., Harbour Centre and the Heritage Park.