The Philippines suffered its first loss in the 12th BFA U15 Asian Baseball Championship, falling 0-10 to Japan at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium in Taiwan last Tuesday.

Only needing six innings, the Japanese beat the Nationals and secured the top spot in Group B after winning three straight games.

Japan flexed its muscles as early as the first inning after scoring five runs courtesy of Daito Funayama, Shohei Murahashi, Yusuke Koma, Yusei Kurata and Tatsunori Nakashima.

Funayama, Murahashi and Kurata added three more runs for the Japanese in the second inning and built an 8-0 lead.

Yusei Niwa made it 9-0 in the third inning for Japan courtesy of a run-batted-in (RBI) triple from Funayama.

Kurata finished the game after scoring in the sixth inning via an RBI single from Nakashima.

Despite the embarrassing loss, the Philippines will still advance to the Super Round after finishing with a 2-1 record to clinch the second spot in Group B.

The Nationals started their campaign with an 11-1 blowout of Sri Lanka last Sunday before surviving Hong Kong’s challenge, 3-2, to clinch a slot in the Super Round.

The Super Round will take place on Thursday at the same venue where the top four teams will play each other in a single round robin.

Only the top two finishers will advance to the championship round while the bottom two teams will vie for the bronze medal.

Both medal matches will be on Sunday.