Tantuico powers Youth nine past Titans

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Youth Team leaned on the solid pitching of Paco Tantuico and complemented it with hot bats on the offensive end to shut out Titans in six innings, 10-0, and improve to an even 1-1 card in the 2012 POC-PSC Philippine National Games yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

The six-foot Tantuico yielded a solitary hit and extinguished eight batters he faced in a five-inning stint even as Phl youth’s batters peppered Titans hurler Hiro Belen with 10 hits to complete the rout in the abbreviated game in Group A.

“It was another good performance for the boys, who are already showing maturity, even during our previous losing game against the national men’s team,” said Phl youth team manager Felipe Remollo, whose wards stretched the reigning SEAG champions to the limit before surrending a close 2-3 setback on opening day.

Tantuico almost had a flawless time at the mound, if not for a triple to center he gave up to Francis Gesmundo after striking out the two preceding Titans batters. He left Gesmundo stranded by fanning out the next batter for the third out, going on to make Titans look bad at bat in three more innings before leaving the mound for Ferdinand Liguayan.

Aside from closing it out, Liguayan also gave Phl youth a huge lift on offense, going three-for-four, scoring three runs and slamming two RBIs. Dio Remollo was likewise a strong force, driving in two runs and scoring one himself in a two-for-four clip.

Phl youth, which is gearing up for the Asia-Pacific Big League meet in Japan set July, pounced on Titans’ erratic fielding to get one run each in the first  and second frames to set the tone for the wipeout.

Linguayan, Remollo and Tantuico led a five-hit spree that the Nationals converted into four runs in the third to seize a  6-0 lead that Titans (0-2) couldn’t climb out of.

In the first game, Elmer Lagro essayed a perfect stint at bat to lead Angeles University Foundation (AUF) to a five-inning 13-2 demolition of debuting ILLAM- Big League.

Lagro hit two singles and two doubles in four trips against ILLAM,  pushing home five RBIs and  accounting for two runs as AUF, the reigning PRISAA Central Luzon titlist, bounced back from an embarrassing 3-15 loss to Philab- Los Banos the other day.

A six-run explosion off four hits and two ILLAM errors right in the opening inning all but settled it for AUF, which was never threatened the rest of the way in the game cut short via mercy rule.