Elephants ease their way into championship play

Wang Chin-yun's (王金勇) three-run blast over the left field fence provided starter Wu Jung-yi (吳俊億) all the offense he needed in the Brother Elephants' 5-0 second-half title clincher against the Sinon Bulls on Saturday night in Tienmu Stadium.

The "warm-up round" between the two teams that will play in this year's Championship Series attracted over 10,500 fans to the ballpark. It was the final regular season game in Tienmu.

Elephants skipper Lin Yi-tseng (林易增) sent "bull-killer" Wu Jung-yi to start the game. Wu had been 6-0 against the Bulls over the past two seasons.

The 27-year-old side-armer from Tainan held the Bulls lineup to no runs on four hits over seven innings. Wu's slower-than-average delivery threw the Bulls' timing off all night as he extended his record to 10-1 for the year.

"The Bulls still haven't figured out how to deal with Wu's delivery yet," Elephants player/pitching coach Liu Yi-chuan (劉義傳) said after the win. "That's just great for us."

Taking no chances with a 5-0 lead against the Bulls, Lin sent in reliever Wang Chin-li (王勁力) for a scoreless eighth before calling on veteran Jonathan Hurst to seal off the victory in the ninth.

Offensively for the Elephants, designated hitter Wang Chin-yun salvaged a below-average season with a towering shot to deep left, only his third of the season, to give his team perhaps the most crucial win thus far. A .290 hitter over the past three seasons with the Elephants, the former star of the team found himself on the bench for the most part of this season because of a few nagging injuries. His batting average for the first half of the season fell below .150.

His recent surge in the batter's box finally landed Wang a spot in the starting lineup as the designated hitter.

"I knew chances like this don't come around often, so I had to make the most of it," Wang said after the game.

"But a homerun -- that even caught me by a surprise. I hope this momentum carries us into the championship round."

Losing two out of three against the Elephants, the Bulls have their work cut out for them as they try to regroup during the final week of the regular season before they take on the Elephants in Game 1 of the Championship Series on Oct. 11.

Bulls skipper Chen Wei-cheng (陳威成) ran off the field in disgust after the disappointing loss. One can only imagine what he had to say to his team after the game.