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	TITANS LEAGUE

ALABANG

ANTIPOLO CITY

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LOYOLA HEIGHTS

MAKATI

MARIKINA

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Antipolo City Unfazed

The old-fashioned scoreboard at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium summed up the lackluster finale.

MANILA - Two months of drama on the diamond came to a close last Sunday when the 2003 Titans League graced the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium with yet another piece of history in its storied past. Natural rivals Antipolo City and Marikina, the league's top two teams during the regular season, went head to head for one game to determine the maiden league's champion.

Coming off a bitter defeat against Marikina's Golden Bears on the regular season's final weekend, the ACG were as poised and sharp as they have been all season, including an 18-7 play-off blitzing of the Loyola Heights Blue Eagles two weekends ago. Marikina meanwhile needed every inning of its twice-to-beat edge to stymie the Diliman Fighting Maroons 10-4 just the day before; that after falling 5-4 in 10 innings two weekends ago.

Antipolo City's Mel Palacol earned Championship MVP honors after a dominating performance against Marikina.

As it turned out, Antipolo City quickly disposed off their rivals, scoring seven runs in the first two innings and taking advantage of eight Marikina errors en route to a 19-1 scorching of the Golden Bears. Lefthander Mel Palacol went the distance, giving up just one run in scattering five hits while striking out 12 and walking three, and was named the game's most valuable player. Joseph Orillana went 5 for 6, scored five runs and drove home another three to lead the ACG's 17-hit attack.

"The boys deserved this (championship) after working so hard all season" mused 53-year old playing coach Rufino Palacol, Sr. of the ACG.

Marikina's offense, whose 150 runs scored during the season ranked second only to Antipolo City's 151, was rather anemic it took until the eighth inning before Jeff Rodriguez's one-out double plated Sky Rosales. By then the ACG were well on their way to the title.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES / WEEKEND 9

BATTING
		AB	R	H	BI	BB	K
	J.Orillana, ANT	6	5	5	3	0	0
	T.Olayvar, ANT	5	2	2	2	1	0
	A.Santos, MAR	3	4	3	0	1	0
	R.Roque, MAR	4	1	2	4	0	0

PITCHING
		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
	M.Palacol, ANT	9	5	1	1	3	12
	S.Rosales, MAR	4	1	0	0	4	2

ROLL CALL

There were 151 players who played in the 2003 Titans League, 46 of whom played in the 2002 Titans Series.

SIZING THEM UP

The league's three women, Alabang's Ia Altomonte, Charlotte Dychauco, and Makati's Lia Roque combined to hit .208 with four runs scored, five runs batted in, five walks, and eight strikeouts in 33 plate appearances... Loyola Heights' Chris Canlas, Edmund Esguerra, Santi Ledesma, and Jun Veloso had a combined .208 average over 96 plate appearances.

MOWING THE FIELD

Antipolo City ACG Mel Palacol's league-leading 49 strikeouts were more than the Taguig (34), Makati (46), and Loyola Heights (46) pitching staffs, while as many as Alabang's.

LAUNCHING A TATER

Marikina's Jeff Rodriquez was the only Titans Leaguer to go yard in the 2003 Homerun Derby held at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium (LF 313 - CF 385 - RF 303). The other two were Army's Manuel Binarao and Navy's Jasper Cabrera. The trio combined to slug four homers in the first round, with the latter two sharing honors by belting one apiece in the medal round.

NOT JUST PINOYS

Makati's Bob Jang of South Korea has the distinction of being the only foreign national to play in the Titans League.