Brother Elephants aim for double top

COURTESY CPBL, IN TAINAN

Chen Chih-yuen's (陳致遠) two-run homer in the first inning set the tone for a 6-3 Brother Elephants victory against the President Lions last night in Taichung.

The Elephants will clinch the second half-season title if the Sinon Bulls defeat the Chinatrust Whales tonight in Taichung, or the Elephants win again tomorrow.

If so, the Elephants will win both half-season titles this year, an extraordinary achievement.

The Elephants started with their back-to-back 10-win starter Wang Chin-lee (王勁力), who had an overwhelming 6-1 record against the Lions this season.

Representing the Lions on the mound was Dai Lung-shwei (戴龍水), who was seeking his fourth win of the season and had not registered a victory against the Elephants yet so far this season.

With the leadoff batter Lin Ming-shien (林明憲) walked, the Elephants' Chen Chih-yuen (陳致遠) crushed the ball off Dai and it landed on the center bleacher of Tainan Stadium to give the Elephants a 2-0 lead at the beginning of the game.

On the top of the second inning Lin Hung-yuen (林鴻遠) of the Lions scored on teammate Wu Chao-hwei's (吳昭輝) single to the right, to make the score 2-1.

Later, the Elephants grabbed their chances on the top of the seventh and cashed in with two runs when Chen Chih-yuen hit a double off Lions reliever Chen Rong-dzao (陳榮造) while runners were on second and third.

Trailing by three runs the Lions managed to rally, also in the seventh inning. Wang Chuen-chia(王傳家) and Ling Hung-yuen (林鴻遠) each batted in one run as the Lions produced a total of four hits to shorten the gap between the two clubs to just one run as the Elephants led 4-3.

The Elephants' Chen Hwai-shan (陳懷山) belted another two runs on the top of the ninth to completely wipe out any hopes the Lions had of a comeback.

Tonight's game:

Whales vs. Bulls @ Taichung, 6:35pm, live on VideoLand Sports (Ch. 49)

COURTESY TML

With their postseason hopes on the line, the visiting Chiayi Luka put seven runs on the board in the first two innings against Taichung Agan to pave its way for another convincing 16-8 victory.

Luka starter Shad Williams put on an outstanding pitching performance that earned him the victory by holding the powerful Agan lineup to just two runs over seven innings of play. His impressive showing won him the MVP honor for the game.

Though Luka reliever Feng Juo-hui (豐偌暉) surrendered six runs in the last two innings to the Agan, the 16-run gap was more than sufficient for his team to claim the victory.

Luka's offensive strength was particularly evident in the eight-run eighth, which gave them a commanding 16-2 advantage before the Agan fought back and scored six runs in the last two innings against Feng.

Agan starter Lee Ming-ching (李明進) gave up 14 runs in seven plus innings in his worst outing of the season.

Agan manager Wu Fu-lien's (吳復連) reluctance to remove his starter might have been due to the fact that the game was put out of reach by the Luka too early and Wu wanted to rest his pitching staff as much as possible for the upcoming postseason.

The victory kept the Luka's playoff hope alive for at least another day as they return home to host their final game of the season against the Agan tonight.

A win tonight coupled with two Gida losses later this week is the only way that the Luka will make it into the postseason.