CLARK, Pampanga — The Philippine national men’s baseball team scored six runs as early as the first inning en route to a 13-1 win over Indonesia to kick off its five-peat bid in the BFA East Asia Cup XIV last Tuesday at the Clark International Sports Complex.
The Nationals leaned on Clarence Caasalan, Mark Beronila, Kyle Soberano, Harper Sy, John Vargas, Mark Manaig, as they finished the game in seven innings.
The Philippines added one run in the second inning, two in the third, two in the fifth, and two more in the sixth as they took the top spot of Group B in the tournament backed by Smart, PLDT Home and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Filipino pitcher Romeo Jasmin also made sure the Philippines had a tight defense in the first five innings, highlighted by two strikeouts.
Muhammad Vendy Kurniawan was the lone Indonesian to score a run in the fourth inning via a run-batted-in single from Ricky Takahashi.
Since then, Indonesia never scored again behind the defensive prowess of pitchers Kennedy Torres and Paulo Macasaet.
Macasaet delivered the killing blow for the Philippines with a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to deny the Indonesians any chance of scoring a run.
National team head coach Vince Sagisi said their philosophy of swinging hard worked wonders.
“I give credit to Indonesia, they worked hard. But our philosophy is we are going to score runs,” said Sagisi, a former Major League Baseball scout.
“We like to swing the bat. We like to hit and we’ve got guys who can hit.”
“Our pitching was good. Romeo Jasmin gave up one run. We have good arms in the bullpen.”
The Philippines goes up against Singapore on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the same venue.
Another win will solidify the Nationals’ place in the Super Round on Friday.