ILLAM names clouters bound for Australia

The International Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM) on Saturday named 14 youth players to the Australia-bound national baseball squad which will participate in the Southeast Asia-Pacific Youth Baseball and Softball Tournament 2003 on March 22-30 at Mandura, Perth, Australia.

Baseball commissioner Randy Dizer released the names of the players in the Juniors Division (13-14 years old), the core of which comes from the multi-titled Manila Mariners, headed by Michael De Rossi, Kirk Long, Joeboy de Mesa, Ian Macapinlac and Daniel Fawcett.

The seven-year ILLAM tournament champion Manila Mariners came out victorious in the recent Little League-Manila by crushing the Wasabi Team in the semifinal before beating Manila Dodgers in the championship, 13-14, Feb. 16 at the Rosario Sports Center Diamond in Pasig City.

Other members of the Mariners are Keiyo Muto, Javier Garcia, Rafael Silvestre, Vincent Burke, Jr., Migo Baroque, Miguel Esguerra, CJ Concepcion, Cyrill Carlos, Nico Diaz, Manager Jeff Long, Coach Vince Burke, Sr. and sponsor Engineer Armando "Andy" De Rossi.

The junior team got a shot in the arm when CMC di Ravenna (Asia), Inc. headed by De Rossi renewed its sponsorship of the Mariners. Dizer reported that CMC di Ravenna has been a partner of the MM as well as the ILLAM for quite sometime and the partnership has resulted in numerous championships

The members of the RP national team in the Junior Division are Carlos Borromeo; Vince Ang; Paolo Jalandoni; Matsutaka Yahiro and Chris Jocson of the Manila Dodgers and four from the Alaska Milk Team, namely Alex Van Der Gaag; Paolo Mallari and Gico Almendras.