Pinoy batters beat Indonesia to open East Asia Cup

CLARK, Pampanga, October 30 ------ The Philippines opened the 14th BFA East Asia Baseball Cup with an 13-1 win over Indonesia in seven innings at the The Villages – Clark International Sports Complex. A six-run binge in the first inning led by Mark Beronilla and the experience by starting pitcher Romeo Jasmin led to the Pinoy batters’ blowout victory in tournament where they are aiming for their fifth straight title and take one of two places in the Asian Baseball Championship next year. 

The Philippines will go for a place in the super round against Singapore on Wednesday at The Villages, which hosted the 2019 Southeast Asian Games baseball and softball competition. Beronilla blasted a two-out, two-run triple to open scoring for the Philippines, sending home Kyle Soberano and Clarence Caasalan, who reached base on a fielders’ choice and throwing error respectively. 

Beronilla scored on single by Harper Gerald Sy, who later scored on an RBI single by Mark Manaig. Another throwing error by Indonesia also sent Manaig home for a 6-0 lead by the Philippines at the end of the first. “Our philosophy is we are going to score runs,” said Philippines coach Vince Sagisi, a former scout of the Cleveland Guardians. “We like to swing the bat. We like to hit and we have got guys who can hit. They make good, hard contact and they can drive the ball to the gaps as evidenced today.” 

The 35-year-old Jasmin yielded four hits in a five-inning start to preserve the Philippines’ big lead that it built early in the contest. “That’s why he is pitching. I love the veteran pitchers. I like pitchers that can throw strikes and Romeo Jasmin has exemplified that throughout his international baseball career,” Sagisi said of Jasmin, a many-time national team member. Soberano actually had a long ball in the second inning when he drilled a shot to right field and over the fence leading to a celebration by his teammates, only for the umpire to rule it a ground-rule double. 

Regardless, Soberano scored after two batters when Beronilla reached first base on a throwing error. Indonesia scored its only run in the game in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Ricky Takahashi but the Philippines already had nine runs. The tournament is presented by Smart, PLDT Home, and Philippine Sports Commission, and supported by San Miguel Foods, Clark Development Corporation, Pythos Technologies, Metro Pacific Tollways, Meralco, MWell, Genesis, Kenko, SSK, Brett, Carmen’s Best, Cogent, and CEDC. 

In other matches, Hong Kong defeated Malaysia, 16-1, in five innings and Thailand won over Cambodia, 14-4, in seven innings. Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association president Chito Loyzaga and secretary general Pepe Munoz, and officials from Baseball Federation of Asia officials from Baseball Federation of Asia and Clark Development Corporation attended the opening ceremony. 

Source: spin.ph