
By Robert Balajadia
The GW Geckos are champions of baseball for the third time in four years after completing a perfect playoff sweep, beating the Sanchez Sharks 6-4 while holding off a furious rally at the Okkodo Field Saturday evening.
GW was sitting in the drivers seat in the double-elimination playoffs meaning a loss would still guarantee them one more game. The Geckos had no intentions of playing the ‘IF’ game by turning in a strong defensive performance while holding down the upstart Sharks.
Pitcher Jaren Gumataotao went all seven innings and went into the bottom of the 7th inning up 6-1 after just extending his teams lead after an RBI single. After two dropped balls on fly outs, the Sharks would load the bases for a two out rally that hung rain clouds over the Geckos celebration party.
Sanchez got an RBI single from Jadein “Cheeseburger” Evangelista to carve into the lead 6-2 with the Sanchez dugout pouring on the cheers. An altercation on a stolen base from Shark Ethan Palnia and Gecko third baseman Kyle Quichocho fired up both sides even more and Sanchez responded with another RBI single from Jacob Toves to really put the pressure on Gumataotao.
A timeout would be called to settle the team down as Jaren was still facing loaded bases.
“They just told me to pitch to my strengths and hit the strike zones. I really wasn’t thinking much of anything, I tried to block everything out to try and finish the game,” said Gumataotao.
Another base hit from Jeremiah Sablan scored another run for the Sharks while facing elimination for a 6-4 deficit. Shark Tyler Santos couldn’t keep the wild streak going as his hit stayed in the infield as Gumataotao was able to scoop up the grounder for an easy toss to first baseman Ethaniel Cali for the final out.
Errors would hurt the Sharks giving up three unearned runs early on for a 4-1 deficit.
GW back on top of baseball
After taking over as head coach last season, Dan Leon Guerrero reiterated what he promised his boys in 2018.
“I told you that we’re taking back the title this year,” shouted Leon Guerrero to his team in the post game huddle.
The Geckos peaked at the perfect time despite having a rough start to the season.
“We had some players who hadn’t come out yet at the beginning of the season and it took a while for the team to work together. They are all a bunch of new players and they haven’t played together so it did take time. That’s what we focused on all season, working fundamentals and to get them to gel and towards the end they all just started to click,” said Leon Guerrero.
They were the hottest team entering the playoffs and not even the undefeated FD Friars could extinguish their flames as the Geckos handed the Friars their first loss all year.
“We let these guys know that fundamentals is going to win games. They all executed defensively and it was more of the execution while trying to keep the errors to a minimum. We had a whole week off and the communication was there in practice all week and we knew what we needed to get done to win it today,” added Leon Guerrero.
Gumataotao takes the win for GW and pitcher Rico Miner takes the loss for the Sharks. League MVP Sigfrido Sanchez relieved Miner in the 6th inning.
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GPS Sports Calendar
February 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for January
1st
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
2nd
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
3rd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
4th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Events for February
6th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
7th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
8th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
9th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
10th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL FINALS
Events for February
11th
Events for February
13th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
14th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
15th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
16th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
17th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
18th
World Athletics Cross Country Championships
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Events for February
19th
SPRINT TRIATHLON, PACIFIC GAMES QUALIFIER
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 2
Events for February
20th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
21st
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
22nd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
23rd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
24th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for February
24th
Events for February
25th
Events for February
27th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
Events for February
28th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINALS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS

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