Sharks, Dolphins crush baseball foes again

MANILA—Defending champion Manila and top rival Cebu continued their march to an expected title showdown by overwhelming separate opponents yesterday in Baseball Philippines’ Series 8 at the Rizal Memorial ballpark.

The Manila Sharks, gunning for a third straight crown, crushed Dumaguete, 11-0, in eight innings while the Cebu Dolphins routed Taguig, 13-5, as they duplicated their victories over the same teams Saturday.

Manila and Cebu improved their leading slates to 7-1 with the rest of the field looking hopelessly outclassed.

Batangas stood a far third at 2-4, Taguig fell to 1-4 in a tie with idle Alabang while Dumaguete remained winless in four outings.

The Sharks, who finished with 14 hits, scored five runs in the first three innings, then won under the 10-run mercy rule by exploding for three runs each in the sixth and seventh innings.

Pitchers Waren Vispo, Charlie Labrador and Jonjon Robles combined to shut out Dumaguete, which managed seven hits but gave up three errors.

Clean-up batter Miggy Corcuera blasted a three-run home run and Florentino Ubungen added a solo homer as Cebu took an early 4-1 lead after three innings.

Taguig tied it at 5-5 with its own four-run splurge in the lower fourth, but Cebu responded with eight runs in the next three frames to pull away beyond recall.

The linescores:
First Game
MANILA—212-000-33—11-14-1
DUMAGUETE—000-000-00—0-7-3
Second Game
CEBU—104-041-300—13-17-8
TAGUIG—010-400-000—5-105