By REYNALD MAGALLON
BANGKOK, Thailand — The Philippine baseball team remained spotless with a dominant win over Malaysia while the polo team got its gold medal hopes dashed by host Thailand in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Monday, Dec. 8 here.
The PH batters destroyed the Malaysians, 21-0, in five innings to go 3-0 in the Group A action at the Queen Sirikit Baseball Stadium.
The Filipinos came out swinging with a five-run first inning and then another eight in the second to set the tone in the rout that ended because of a 15-run mercy rule.
“Kailangan talaga i-treat namin every game like it’s championship game. So hindi pwede mag relax relax hanggang makamit ulit natin ang gold,” said head coach Orlando Binarao.
Liam de Vera produced four RBIs to provide enough run support for winning pitcher Clarence Caasalan, who struck out six batters in three innings.
Over at the Siam Polo Park Samut Prakan, the Philippine polo team got relegated to a battle for bronze after absorbing a 1.5-11 loss to Thailand.
Enjoying home-court advantage, the host team dominated the Filipinos from start to finish to book a spot to the final where they will face the winner of the match between Malaysia and Brunei.
Team Philippines was held scoreless for the most part of the contest before team captain Stefano Juban put the Nationals on the board in a futile effort.
Denied of at least matching the silver medal finish of the Filipinos in polo in the 2019 SEA Games, the members of the team politely declined for interviews.
Still, Team PH drew praises from the host country which also won their first encounter, 4-2.5.
“It’s always been difficult to play against them and to be honest, they have been more and more organized each year that we have played against them,” Apichet Srivaddhanaprabha said of the Philippine team.
All is not lost for the Filipinos, however, as they can still land a podium finish against the loser of the other semifinals match between Brunei and Malaysia currently being played as of press time.
The battle for bronze is set Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the same venue.
