The second-place Topco Scientific Falcons stormed their way into the championship series with a 6-5 victory over third-placed Taipower at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon, sweeping the Popcorn League playoff series 2-0.
Cheng Kai-wen’s walk-off sacrifice fly with a man on third scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th as the Falcons rallied from three down with four unanswered runs to advance to the Championship Series against top-ranked Taiwan Cooperative Bank.
The highly anticipated showdown between the Falcons’ Liu Yu-yen and the Power Crew’s Chen Wei-lin lived up to expectations as the two aces held all hitters scoreless through the fifth.
It took Kalian Sams’ two-run blast off Chen to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, as the Falcons took a 2-0 lead.
Taipower managed to draw within a run at the top of the seventh before tying the scores at the top of the ninth on the strength of base hits from Tsai Chih-yu and Liao Chun-kai to send the game into an extra session.
With the momentum swinging their way, the Power Crew plated three runs in the top of the 10th off Ramon Pena and seemed well on their to forcing a third game.
However, the Falcons promptly connected on a two-run single by Yang Dai-chun after Taipower reliever Bryan Escanio issued a bases-loaded walk and set the stage for Cheng’s game-clincher.
Picking up the win was Pena, who fell behind in the top of the 10th, while Escanio was charged with the loss after he gave up the game-winner to end the Power Crew’s season.
“I was just doing my job like everybody else on the team and I am glad that the hits came through for me today,” Sams said after the game.
Sams was unanimously voted the game’s MVP for going 3-for-4 with a homer to his credit.
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