By Jonathan V. Perez
Variety News Staff

IF the regular season is the gauge, the pennant champion Hustlers have the advantage over the reigning title holder Pirates.
The Hustlers take on the Pirates in today’s Game 1 of the best-of-five finals in the SML’s Fall League at the Francisco M. Palacios Ballfield.
The Hustlers swept the Pirates in the three regular season games they played with two matches decided by one run.
The first time the two teams met, the Hustlers pulled off a 10-9 triumph on Oct. 9 and followed that up with an 8-3 win a few weeks later. The Hustlers completed the three-game sweep with a 7-6 decision on Dec. 1.
The Hustlers’ batters also posted a .262 batting average connecting 28 times in their 104 at bats compared to the .222 and 24-for-108 made by the Pirates.
The Hustlers also had the best average all season long with .337 or 153-for-454 in contrast to the Pirates’ .282 average, 125-for-443.
The Hustlers also scored the most runs, 124, against the Pirates’ 110. Both teams had 70 RBIs but the Pirates batters struck out 77 times during the season compared to the 59 times by the Hustlers.
Jerome Delos Santos, Phil Manalo, Jonathan Delos Santos, Byron Kaipat and AJ Allen will be marked by the Pirates’ pitching staff after the four posted batting averages above .400.
Expected to carry the fight for the Hustlers are Jerome Delos Santos and Dane Lizama as the two posted the highest batting averages in their three-game series against the reigning title holders.
Jerome batted .667 with a triple while Lizama had a .429 average and four RBIs against the Pirates this season.
Both teams are almost even in pitching with the Hustlers’ bullpen giving up 28 hits, 15 walks and fanning 16 in their three-game regular season encounter while the Pirates allowed their opponents 24 hits with 29 strikeouts and 16 walks.
Jesse Iguel, Jonathan Salas, Ben Taisacan and Mike Taitano will try to complete the Pirates’ back-to-back title bid after posting batting averages of .327, .345, .343 and .364 this season.
Iguel was the Pirate who had the highest batting average against the Hustlers going .357 or 5-for-14, scoring four runs with one RBI in the regular season.
The Hustlers finished on top of the standings with an 11-2 record to claim the pennant followed by the Young Guns, which surprised everybody after finishing in second place.
The defending champion Pirates, which struggled in the early part of the season, ended up in third after a 0-2 start and a 1-5 mark midway in the season.
The Pirates slowly climbed their way to third place winning four of their last five games.
The Braves finished with a 4-8 record to edge the North Stars, which were eliminated after winning only two of their 12 games.
The Summer/Fall League started in 1999 as a developmental league for players under 25.
Last year the Pirates foiled the Hustlers’ bid to win a third title by scoring a 7-6 win to wrap up the best-of-five championship series, 3-1, and regain the crown they last won in 2003.
The Pirates were champions from 2000 to 2003 before being overthrown by the Hustlers in 2004.