Clouters, fans relive glory days

The Philippines ruled via an amazing six-game sweep the initial staging of baseball in the Southeast Asian Games.

Before the largest crowd to fill the Rizal Ballpark in memory, the RP clouters pounded their Thai rivals, 11-0, in a fitting climax to their masterful showing in the sport where the country used to be No. 1 not only in the region but all over Asia.

The Philippines made it two in a row over Thailand in the weeklong tourney via a 10-run mercy rule in eight innings.

"We didn’t expect this kind of performance. The crowd support really inspired us to make this kind of showing," said RP coach Edgar delos Reyes amidst the din of wild celebration in the venue.

The victorious RP mentor also said the insinuations made by Thai officials of unfair play of the hosts in the current Games motivated them more versus the Thais.

Ernesto Binarao pitched a five-hitter in a no-relief job and the RP batters slammed 12 hits, including five that resulted to a six-run attack in the upper eighth inning that wrote finis in the one-sided contest.

Shortstop Edmer del Socorro went 4-of-4 at bat, tripling in first baseman Alejandro Velasquez to start the RP team onslaught in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Tournament homerun king Andro Cuyugan followed it up by singling in Del Socorro before Nino Tator and Wilfredo Hidalgo Jr. belted back-to-back two-run doubles to finish off the Thais.

Curiously, Chanatip Thongbai yielded all those hits after replacing Nusit Phiromya on the mound.

Filipino catcher Junnifer Pinero broke the ice with a double to right centerfield that sent in Ferdinand Recto in the second inning. Then in his first stint at bat, Del Socorro also hit a double, scoring in Pinero to give the Philippines an early 2-0 advantage.

After fighting the Thais to a scoreless third inning, the RP batters again buckled down to work in the next frame, adding three runs to break the game wide open.

Del Socorro had one more RBI and zoomed home with Pinero on errors by the Thais in this inning.

Coach Delos Reyes considered Del Socorro from Davao, Pinero from Zamboanga and Binarao from Canlubang as his most valuable players in the tourney.

Baseball oldies estimated the crowd at 10,000 which, also according to them, was the largest ever that filled the venue dating back to the 50s.