By Kyle Terwilliger
Variety News Staff

SUNDAY night featured one of the best games of the Budweiser Baseball League this year as the Bank of Guam Athletics took on the AK Islanders in a match-up for playoff positioning.
The Islanders would send Ernie Lobotan to the mound to face the Athletics Jon Derrick San Nicolas. Both pitchers would pitch amazing games in a battle of future playoff teams. Both teams would remain scoreless through the first inning, but the Islanders would put their first run on the board in the bottom of the second inning when JQ Quintanilla reached first on a walk.
Quintanilla would then reach second and go to third on an error hit by Jimmy Mafnas. On the same error that put Quintanilla on third, Mafnas would try to take second and would be successful when Chad Palomo threw the ball away.
The throw would then score Quintanilla to give the Islanders a one to nothing lead after two complete innings. Both pitchers would keep each team scoreless through the third, fourth, and fifth innings bringing the score to 1-0 in the Islanders favor after five complete innings of play.
Jon Derrick San Nicolas would keep the Islanders scoreless in the top of the sixth inning racking up two strikeouts in the process. In the bottom of the inning the Athletics’ Miller Santos would single to lead off the inning then take second on a pass ball.
Jerry Leon Guerrero would then be hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Chad Palomo would make up for his earlier error when he hit an RBI single scoring Santos. Palomo would go four for four with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. Chris Duenas would follow Palomo’s RBI by reaching first on a fielder’s choice as they got Leon Guerrero out at third base. With two on and one out Randy Alcantra would hit an RBI single to left center to score Palomo giving the Athletics the 2-1 lead. After a walk to load the bases, Chris Duenas would score on a fielder’s choice hit by Roke Alcantra Jr.
The Islanders would get out of the inning without giving up any more runs but the damage had been done with the Athletics leading 3-1 after six innings of play. Ernie Lobotan would be lifted for Gerald Santos in the sixth inning but was responsible for the three runs that scored putting him in position to receive the loss.
Both teams would remain scoreless in the seventh and the eighth inning, setting the stage for a comeback in the ninth inning for the Islanders. After a one, two, three inning for the Athletics in the top of the ninth the Islanders would get the chance to push to extra innings or win the game in the bottom of the inning.
The bottom of the inning would begin with pinch hitter Ed Muna hitting a single to left. He would then be lifted for pinch runner Joe Pangelinan. Scott Deloera would be the next batter and would draw a walk pushing Pangelinan to second. That would bring Andy Quintanilla up to the plate.
Quintanilla would lay down a bunt down the third base line. Jon Derrick San Nicolas would come off the mound to make the play but would throw the ball away when attempting to get Joe Pangelinan at third base.
The error would score Pangelinan to bring the score to 3-2 with no outs and runners on second and third. Dominic Cruz would then come up to the plate and would reach first on a bunt single to load the bases. Jon Derrick San Nicolas would then come out of the game in favor of Steven Alcantra, but San Nicolas would be responsible for the three runners that were on base.
Alcantra would come out dominate and would strikeout Pat Alvarez for the first out of the inning. Alcantra would then walk Tommy Morrison to bring in Scott Deloera from third and tie the game at three apiece.
Alcantra would then strikeout Paul Untalan setting the stage for JQ Quintanilla as he came up with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. This a situation every baseball player dreams of being in and Quintanilla would deliver with a bloop single to center that fell just over the head of Ryan Martinez.
The single would score Andy Quintanilla from third and would give JQ Quintanilla the walk off RBI single as the Islanders won 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. The win puts AK a half game out of second place behind both the Pepsi Giants and the Bank of Guam Athletics with both the A’s and the Giants still having games to play.
The next game will be tonight as the Palau Stingers square off against the Kosrae Speedos.