The Cardinals’ Brian Camacho in action during Tan Holdings Saipan Baseball League game at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.
THE Cardinals are on the verge of claiming the 2023 Tan Holdings Saipan Baseball League championship with an undefeated record after outplaying the Junior Nationals, 16-7, in game 1 of their best-of-three series Monday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.
The Cardinals established control right from the start with the first three at bat quickly filling the bases. Shane Yamada then reached home off an error while Nokki Saralu and Poland Masaharu were brought in by Brian Camacho’s two-RBI single to take the lead, 3-0.
The Junior Nationals returned fire in the second inning with three runs led by Joe’ll Borja’s RBI double along with Achilles Evangelista and Angelo Igitol with an RBI each to even the score, 3-3.
But the Junior Nationals struggled to control the possession on the field as their errors allowed the Cardinals to slip away with six runs in the bottom of the third, and a solo run in the fifth to regain the upper hand, 10-3.
After four scoreless innings, the Junior Nationals notched a single run in the top of the seventh. The Cardinals, for their part, scored six more runs to widen their leave.
The Junior Nationals continued to put up a fight, but could only bag three runs before the final three outs were made by the Cardinals to secure the win, 16-7.
