La New Bears rookie slugger's 21-game hitting streak equals 15-year-old record

Lin Chih-sheng (林智盛) tried to treat it like any other hit. But he could not help noticing the loud cheers from the stands when his sharp liner ricocheted off Sinon Bull starter Tsai Chung-nan's (蔡仲南) glove in the bottom of the sixth for an infield single to extend the Bear rookie slugger's hitting streak to 21 games, equaling the 15-year-old record set by Cheng Hsin-sheng (鄭幸生) of the former Mercury Tigers in 1990.

The La New Bears ended up winning the game by a final score of 9-3 on Wednesday night, but the real storyline for the game was just how good this 22-year-old from Tainan really is. Since joining the team in early June, the first-year pure hitter has put up an impressive .304 batting average, including his team-high, 41-RBI mark in just 41 games. Despite his tender age, the precocious rookie has also shown tremendous maturity at the plate, often taking opposing pitchers deep into the count.

"Patience at the plate will pay big dividends more often than not," Lin said in a recent interview.

Benefiting from his team's recent offensive surge was Bear starter Cory Bailey, who allowed a pair of runs on five hits in eight innings for his tenth win of the season. The American righty is now 10-14 with an 3.22 ERA for the year.

Back-to-back victories by the Brother Elephants quickly brought the Chinatrust Whales back to reality as the team took a beating from the defending champs.

Tuesday night's series opener in Hsinchuang had Elephant starter Wu Jung-yi (吳俊億) taking a no-hitter two outs into the seventh before Whale right fielder Huang Kwei-yu (黃貴裕) connected for a clean single to right.

Even though the veteran hurler, known for his patented side-arm delivery, won the game convincingly in the 7-3 final, Wu wished the fastball that he threw to an unforgiving Huang had not caught as much of the plate as it did.

Offensively for the Elephants, second baseman Fong Sheng-shien's (馮勝賢) 3-for-5 night led a frustrated Elephant attack that had averaged less than three runs in its eight previous contests to buzz the Whale staff for a dozen hits.

Whale starter Emiliano Giron suffered his second straight loss to even his record at 2-2 for the year. The Dominican fireballer has watched his ERA rise from under 2.5 in late-July to the 4.50 mark.

Peng Cheng-ming's (彭政閔) two-run blast to deep right in the top of the eighth provided the Elephants some much needed breathing room as it turned a 3-1 Elephant lead into the eventual 5-1 final in Wednesday night's matchup. It was Peng's 15th homer of the season, putting him just one shy of the league leader, Chang "The Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (張泰山) of the Bulls.

Nakagomi Sin improved his record to 11-6 for the year by allowing a lone run on six hits in seven solid frames for the victory, before reliever Wang Jing-li (王勁力) pitched two shutout innings.

The Elephant organization breathed a collective sigh of relief after the win on Wednesday because it was not too long ago when many wondered if the defending champs were capable of winning even one game during their recent eight-game slide.

Looking ahead into this weekend's matchups, the Bears will look to ride their current six-game winning streak as far as they can in their three-game visit to Taichung against the hosting Bulls, while the Whales attempt to salvage a series tie with a pair of wins.