By Kyle Terwilliger
Variety News Staff

THERE is finally some order to the chaos that was the Budweiser Baseball League standings. The Bank of Guam Athletics and Pepsi Giants would get it started as they squared off on Sunday. The Athletics pitching would lead them to a 8-1 victory over the Giants, temporarily putting them in sole possession of first place.
The Athletics would be led by not only their pitching but by designated hitter Ryan Alcantra who went 2 for 4 on the evening racking up 4 RBI on a two run double in the top of the second and a two run homerun in the top of the third.
Alcantra would contribute four of his teams eight runs, but would give the credit to his brother, starting pitcher Roke Alcantra and the his whole pitching staff. “That’s our strong point, we have nine strong pitchers,” Ryan would say after the game. Ryan would also comment on their push towards the playoffs, “We have confidence; we look forward to coming out strong. We’re pushing harder and harder now that the playoffs are coming and we’re starting to gel together.
This is only our second year playing together so we’re all still gaining experience.” The 8-4 win gave the Athletics an 8-2 record and we’re atop the standings going into Tuesday nights game.
Tuesday night showcased the other two teams in the four team dance for the top positions in the standings as the 7-3 AK Islanders took on the 7-2 Guam Greyhounds. The game would begin in the Islanders favor behind their pitcher Tommy Morrison as they jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after one inning. The Islanders would score their run on an RBI groundout hit by Paul Untalan. Both teams would remain scoreless in the third but tempers would begin to flare as the home plate umpire began to make some questionable calls.
The complaining would begin when John Sarmiento was awarded first base on a full count check swing in which the umpire appeared to signal an out but then awarded the walk loading the bases.
The Islanders would get out of the inning without giving up a run. The Greyhounds would put their first run on the board in the top of the third on an RBI double hit by Pete Concepcion tying the score at one apiece after three complete innings. The Islanders would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when JQ Quintanilla led off the inning with a walk and would then come around to score on an RBI double hit by Boomer Fajeron.
Fajeron would then score on an RBI single hit by Andy Quintanilla giving the Islanders a 3-1 lead after four innings of play. In the top of the fifth inning the umpire would once again take the spot light. Greyhounds’ Joey Taijeron would reach first on an error and would then move to third on a double by Rico Castro. With two runners on and nobody out the next two batters would pop out and ground out keeping both Taijeron and Castro on base.
With John Salas up to bat with two outs and him facing a 0-2 count Taijeron would attempt to steal home. The umpire would call strike three and negate the run scored leaving the score at 3-1 after 4-innings of play.
The Greyhounds would then announce their protest of the game. And with the game under protest the Islanders would come up to bat in the bottom of the fifth and would add another run when Pat Alvarez scored on a pass ball giving the Islanders a 4-1 lead going into the sixth. In the top of the sixth the Greyhounds would explode for eight runs on six hits. The Greyhounds would be led with RBI from JT Tuquero, Rico Castro, Pete Concepcion, Glen Fernandez, and John Sarmiento. Fernandez and Sarmiento would grab two a piece in the sixth giving the Greyhounds the 9-4 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.
The Islanders would not respond in the bottom of the sixth as they fell one, two, and three. The Greyhounds would continue their offensive attack in the seventh as they added two more runs on a sacrifice fly by Rico Castro and an RBI single by Pete Concepcion.
The Islanders would respond with a run in the bottom half of the seventh when Pat Alvarez scored on a wild pitch. Both teams would not score in the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth inning the Greyhounds would score once more as Pete Concepcion scored on an RBI double by Alan Sarmiento.
So with the score 12-5 going into the bottom of the ninth the Islanders would prepare to mount a comeback. They would however, fall very short scoring only one run in the bottom of the ninth as they lost 12-6 giving the season sweep to the Greyhounds.
Pete Concepcion would say after the game, “Everyone was on top of their game.” When asked about the protest he said, “We just let it go, you can argue with the umpire for a while but then you have to just forget about it.”