GOLDEN Sox Carlo Conge bucked the absence of his UST teammates with a solid performance as the Dumaguete Uni-bikers won third place with a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the Alabang Tigers in the ninth season of Baseball Philippines at the Rizal Mermorial Baseball Stadium last July 15.
The Uni-Bikers, who missed the services of Arvin Plaza and Amber Plaza, were down 2-4 in the eighth inning when they took advantage of Alabang’s out-of-sync pitching to mount four points and complete the comeback.
Conge scored an RBI (Runs Batted In), including two runs to propel the Uni-Bikers’ escape act against the Tigers, who were also reinforced by UST players.
Three of the four points of the Uni-bikers in the eighth came from walks, with Tigers coach Jeffrey Santiago continuously shuffling his pitchers.
“Our pitchers seemingly had no conditioning as we conceded points mostly out of walks,” said Santiago, also Golden Sox coach. “Our main pitcher was not available for the game and our reliever wasn’t able to do a decent job.”
Dumaguete held Alabang scoreless at the top of the eighth inning owing to the good defense of its infielders and pitcher Mike Gante, who ousted two consecutive batters.
The Uni-bikers then capitalized at their turn at bat as Bambol Servo, Conge, and Karl Peralta all walked to home base because of Tigers pitcher Carlos Muñoz’s frequent ball outs and wild fastballs that repeatedly went through the hands of catcher Bocboc Bernardo.
The Tigers yielded another point as Gante hit a sacrifice fly ball that cleared the way for Peralta to score once again in the inning and put the game away, 6-4.
“We remained patient, especially in our hitting despite several miscommunications early in the game,” Uni-bikers coach Iking Jimenez said.
Alabang took an early lead at the top of the second inning when the Laurel brothers, Matt and Jay, scored on back-to-back occasions. During Dumaguete’s turn at bat, the Uni-bikers had all bases loaded as Conge, who was idle at third base, walked his way to the home plate following a ball out for Muñoz.
Thomasians Arcel Aligno and Mario Cerda broke a five-inning drought for both squads as they added two for the Tigers from consecutive fumbles of the Uni-bikers’ catcher to put Alabang ahead, 1-4.
Dumaguete’s Peralta countered with a run at the bottom of the seventh after Gante’s shot went far center to trim the deficit to two, 2-4.
