Baseball Philippines Series 8 to hold game in Cebu for Independence Day encounter

It will be an explosive Independence Day showdown this Sunday as the two-time defending champions Manila Sharks take on the league-leading Cebu Dolphins in the Baseball Philippines Series 8 on the latter’s home floor over at the Aboitiz Sports Field in Mandaue City at 1 p.m.

The game is being billed as the “Baseball Philippines Independence Day Encounter,” marking the very first time that the 4-year-old league has held a game here in Cebu.

Most of the games of the league has been held at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium and recently, they have ventured out to Batangas and Laguna.
But in an unprecedented move, Baseball Philippines and Cebu’s Fastball Sportsventure will take the games outside of Luzon and into the Queen City of the South.

“Baseball Philippines is making an effort to bring the games closer to the people, especially in the provinces. We hope that with this move, we can attract more fans to watch baseball,” said Baseball Philippines executive director Nolan Bernardino.

It will be the first time that the Cebuanos will get to see their Dolphins, which has carved a name for themselves in the league for winning the titles in Series 2 and 4.

“We have long been inviting the Cebu Dolphins and Baseball Philippines to come to Cebu for us Cebuanos to be acquainted with the teams and the league itself. And now they are finally coming. We are all very excited. This will be a big boost to Fastball’s goal of bringing back the popularity of baseball in Cebu,” said Jesse Bernad, Fastball general manager and sports director.

The Dolphins and the Sharks are currently tied at the top of the standings with identical 7-1 (win-loss) records. The Sharks dominated Dumaguete, 11-0, while the Dolphins destroyed Taguig, 15-3, in their respective games last weekend.

Prior to the game, the Dolphins and Sharks will also hold baseball clinics for children.