Cebu nine seek outright berth vs Bulls

Series II champion Cebu shoots for the first of two outright semifinal berths as it takes on Series III titlist Batangas today in Baseball Philippines’ Series IV at the Rizal Baseball Stadium.

The Dolphins shut out the Muntinlupa Mariners, 12-0, in an abbreviated contest last week to notch their sixth win in seven games and boost their bid for an outright semis berth in the league organized by Community Sports, Inc.

“That’s really our goal, to finish at the top spot going into the semifinals,” said Cebu team manager Isaac Bacarisas in Filipino, whose Dolphins battle the struggling Bulls at 10:30 a.m.

Forward Taguig also tries to move closer to the other automatic semis seat as it clashes with Muntinlupa in the first of a three-game bill at 7 a.m.

The Patriots hammered out a 9-4 victory over the Dumaguete Unibikers, the Series III losing finalists, last week to remain half a game behind the Dolphins with a 5-1 (win-loss) slate.

The Mariners, for their part, are two full games behind the Patriots with a 3-3 mark and could force a tie for second with a sweep of their two-game classification round series with the latter this weekend.

Mizuno, Gatorade, Purefoods TJ Hotdogs, Welcoat Paints, Industrial Enterprises, Inc., Harbour Centre, The Heritage Park and Agility Logistics are backing the tournament with Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, PABA, Sports Radio and Makisig Sports as partners.

In the third game, Dumaguete and Manila clash in a duel of struggling teams at 2 p.m. with the Unibikers and the Sharks going all out for a victory to stay in the hunt for the last semis slot.

The Unibikers, runners-up in Series III, tote a 2-5 (win-loss) mark while the Sharks, who lost to the Dolphins in Series II final, posted a 6-1 win over the Bulls last week to notch what was only their second win against six losses. — end it//thanks