RP baseball team cruises to second straight victory
By: Alfred Joseph D. Foz

Ace pitcher Ernesto Binarao made a gallant show at the mound as the Philippine baseball squad cruised to its second straight victory with an 11-5 spanking of stubborn Indonesia at the Rizal ballpark.

The burly Binarao struck out 11 indon batters including four in the first four innings as the Filipinos raced to a 7-3 lead after seven innings.

The Filipinos added four more runs in the next frame to all but put the game away before the Philippine coaching staff decided to rest its foremost pitcher.
“I was expecting Binarao to pitch for five to six innings (only) but he gave all his best,” said RP head coach Edgar Delos Reyes.

Charlie Labrador took over from where Binarao left off and sustained the Filipino surge as Ruben Angeles and Roel Empacis added offensive back up while catcher Junnifer Pinero provided the leadership inside the diamond.

“I think our catcher (Pinero) did a great job. He listened to me and he did his best,” said Delos Reyes. “He pumped up the team by talking to them; malaking bagay yung teamwork ng pitcher at catcher.”

Empacis started the scoring charge with a doublet before Nino Tator and Jonash Ponce showed some of their own,as they held the Indons scoreless until the top of the third inning.

When Indonesia battled back to tie the score at 3-all, Binarao struck out Indons Rully Pernanto, Agus Supriatna, Elia M. Kasih and Andospa Saputra one after the other to key that 7-3 attack that put the Filipinos comfortably ahead, 11-5.

Indonesia’s Chindy Yudharana also did a stellar job on the pitcher’s mount to prevent the Philippines from break ing away early in the game until he was relieved by Muhammad Akbar in the seventh inning

It was Indonesia’s second straight setback after losing against Thailand last Monday.

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