The Philippine men’s national U18 team got blown into bits by defending champion South Korea, 10-0, in five innings in its first game in the Super Round of the BFA XIII U18 Asian Baseball Championship at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Chinese Taipei last Friday.
As early as the first inning, the Koreans flexed their muscles as they scored four runs courtesy of Park Jaehyun, Yum Seungwon, Park Junsoon and Sim Jaehoon.
Oh Jaewon scored the lone run of the second inning due to fielder’s choice to make it 5-0 for South Korea.
Sim and Lee Wonjun added two more runs for the Koreans in the third inning thanks to a 2 run-batted-in double from Ham Sooho.
Lee, Sim and Park wrapped it up in the fifth innings with three more runs to end the game.
The Philippines aims at least a third-place finish to qualify for the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025.
The Nationals will try to bounce back as it goes up against Chinese Taipei on Saturday at the Shilin District in Taipei City.
Entering with a 3-0 win-loss record in Group A, the Taiwanese will test the Filipinos as they will play against the home crowd as well.