Filipinos blank Malaysians, 21-0

The Philippines destroyed Malaysia, 21-0, to nail its third straight victory in men’s baseball event of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Monday.

Playing at the Queen Sirikit 60th Anniversary Stadium, the Filipino batters took just five innings to get the job done.

National coach Orlando Binarao emphasized that they can’t let their guard down, not even for a second.

“We need to treat each games as if it were a championship game so we can’t relax until we get the gold,” Binarao said.

The Philippines started the first inning with five runs from JP Macasaet, Liam de Vera, Mark John Berolina, Joven Maulit and John Matanguihan.

Then Matanguihan, Maulit, Macasaet, De Vera, Rhazley Santos, did more damage in the second inning after dropping eight runs.

The Philippines continued scoring in the third inning courtesy of Beronilla, Macasaet and De Vera.

Cer Gio Gopido, Maulit, Macasaet, Kent Altarejos and De Vera, scored five more runs in the fourth.

Up next is Vietnam on Tuesday in what will serve as a warmup before its big clash with host Thailand the day after.

“We need to be ready because they (Thailand) have Thai-Amrican and Thai-Japanese players. We know they are also preparing fo us,” Binarao said.

The top two teams after the single-round elminations will vie for the gold medal on Friday.