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Tigers oust Patriots, nail BP5 semis berth

06/14/2009

The Alabang Tigers went to the bat of third baseman Welvin Vispo in the eighth inning to oust the Forward Taguig Patriots, 7-5, and earned a semifinals spot in yesterday’s quarterfinal action of Baseball Philippines Series 5 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

With the game tied at 5-5, Vispo and Cumlat hit consecutive run-scoring doubles as the Tigers were able to rally back from a three-run deficit to end the Patriots’ dismal campaign in the tournament organized by Community Sports Inc.

It was Alabang’s first semifinal appearance since 2007, when current Czech league standout Jonjon Robles led the then-Makati Mariners to the championship of the league’s pilot series.

Alabang, which ended its classification round campaign with a record of 4-6, will play the Manila Sharks in the semifinals which starts next Saturday. The Sharks, though, holds a twice-to-beat advantage.

After Jay Laurel hit a single and eventually went to third on a passed ball, Vispo hit a two-out double into left-center field off losing pitcher Tawi delos Reyes to give the Tigers a 6-5 advantage.

Vispo then scored the insurance run on the next at-bat after rightfielder Jake Cumlat drilled delos Reyes’ second pitch into right field.

Delos Reyes had a chance to redeem himself in the ninth inning after making a leadoff single, then reached third after consecutive groundouts. But he was 90 feet short of reaching home plate as Ryan Garcia hit a flyout to right for the game’s last out.

A current member of the two-time reigning UAAP champion Adamson Falcons, Vispo finished with three doubles off three hits to go along with two RBIs (runs-batted-in) to lead the Tigers.

Forward Taguig, which was hoping to extend the series to a winner-take-all match, raced to a 5-2 lead in the third frame as Jeff Hardillo highlighted a three-run spree with an RBI single to score Garcia from third base. But Alabang would later tie the score at 5-5 as Vispo scored the tying run following consecutive passed balls in the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, the other quarterfinal pairing featuring the Cebu Dolphins and the Dumaguete Uni-Bikers is being played as of presstime. The winner of that series will play the undefeated Batangas Bulls, which posted a 10-game sweep of the classification round, in the semis.Games.