JUNIOR NATS RULE UOG BASEBALL WEEKEND

PRESS RELEASE – The Guam Junior National Baseball Team dominated the first weekend of the 3rd Annual UOG Baseball Invitational at Paseo Stadium over January 27-28 with victories over the Cardinals and the Dodgers. The UOG Baseball Team, playing as the club team, Tridents, for the spring semester, dropped their first two games in the tournament with losses to the Dodgers and Cardinals.

On Saturday, the Junior Nationals opened the tournament with a 7-1 win over the Cardinals as Guaifon Terlaje went 3-4 at the plate with two RBIs and 1 run scored. Sean Balauro and L. Minor combined to hold the Cardinals to 1 run and 1 hit over 7 innings.

In the 2nd game of the day, the UOG Tridents defense let pitcher Larry Flores down as UOG committed 7 errors on the day and the Dodgers scored single runs in the 1st and 3rd innings and two runs in 4th. None of the runs were earned by Larry Flores who took the loss for UOG while only giving up 3 hits with 3 strikeouts and 5 walks. Dodger pitchers Freddie Cepeda and T. Koley held UOG to only 1 run and 2 hits on the day.

On Sunday, the Tridents opened the game with two runs in the top of the first inning against the Cardinals but the Cardinals came back in the bottom of the 2nd inning to score 6 runs and take a 6-2 lead. UOG would strike for single runs in the 3rd and 4th innings to cut the Cardinal lead to 6-4, but the Cardinals would score a 2nd 6 spot in the bottom of the 4th inning to lead 12-4 and cruised to a 12-6 win.

Dominic Pangelinan took the loss for UOG while Sage Reyes picked up the win for the Cardinals. Long Yip led UOG at the plate, going 3-4 on the day.

The Junior Nationals on Sunday came out on fire with 5 runs in the first and 4 runs in the 2nd to take a 9-0 lead over the Dodgers after just one and half innings of play. Franklin Ninete Jr. was dominate on the mound for the Junior Nationals, holding the Dodgers to just 2 hits on the day while pitching a 5 inning shutout with 4 strikeouts and only two walks.

The Junior Nationals scored two more runs in the top of the 5th to claim a 5 inning ten run rule victory over the Dodgers, 11-0.

Standings after the first weekend:

Junior Nationals – 2-0

Dodgers – 1-1

Cardinals – 1-1

UOG Tridents – 0-2

Next Saturday, the Dodgers face the Cardinals at Noon and the UOG Tridents take on the undefeated Junior Nationals at 3 pm.

On Sunday, the tournament switches from round robin play to double elimination bracket play, with the #2 Seed Vs #3 Seed at noon and the #1 Seed Vs #4 Seed at 3 pm.

All four teams will continue to play the following Saturday, February 9.

The tournament continues through February 17-18.