Indonesia beats Pakistan 24-19 to win Asian Cup
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia won the fourth Asian Cup Baseball Championship by defeating Pakistan 24-19 in a close match at the Bung Karno Baseball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Sunday.
Indonesia's win makes it eligible to participate in the first division baseball championship from March 19 to March 25 in Taipei. A place in the Pusan 2002 Asian Games will be secured if Indonesia maintains its place in the first division.
Earlier in the morning, Thailand grabbed the third place after defeating Hong Kong 19-6 after the seventh inning.
Hitting first, Pakistan scored three runs when Khuram Shahzad Butt drove the ball out of the park, sending Kamran Mehboob home. The third run was earned when Nasir Nadeem made another over the fence hit for a 3-0 opening lead on top of the inning.
Indonesia's Andryo Haripradono drove Tony Pribadi home from second base. Andryo was then driven home together with Michael Trisnadi by Gunawan Pramono on the plate. Gunawan was then sent home by Jericho Gaffar to take a 4-3 lead.
Both teams continues to score three runs for Pakistan and four for Indonesia for the next two innings for a 12-9 lead for Indonesia.
Pakistan closed the gap in the fourth inning with a two-run homer to a 12-11 deficit, while Indonesia failed to score.
In the fifth inning, Pakistan scored four more runs to take a 15-12 lead. Meanwhile, Indonesia managed to close the gap to 15- 14.
Pakistan's Khamran and Nasir both hit balls over the fence on top of the sixth inning to widen the 17-14 gap, which turned out to be Pakistan's last lead in the game.
Indonesia outstandingly produced eight runs on the bottom of the sixth to regain its lead in the game. With two players down, Gunawan started the onslaught when Chindy Patria was at the plate. Gilberto then stole a run when Adi Susanto got a strike. Chindy was home with Yuno Dewanto at the plate to equalize the score at 17-17.
Later, Tony sent Adi home to take a lead of 18-17. Then Yuno walked home when Andryo got base on ball with full bases. Tony and Michael ran home when Lukmanul was hitting, and then Andryo was driven home by Gunawan to take a 22-17 lead.
Pakistan and Indonesia failed to score any runs in the seventh inning. Both teams then produced two more runs each after the eight inning of 24-19.
In the ninth inning, Pakistan failed to close the gap when its runners were sent down in exactly the same way. The ball was caught by Indonesian shortstop Michael who then delivered it to Jericho on first base before Pakistan runners reached the first.
"The boys followed all my instructions well. They also played the strategy well. We did it run by run, base by base and inning by inning," Indonesian head coach Rahmad Nasir told reporters.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's head coach Shujjat Ali said his players were "floppy" especially in the field.
"However, our batters are still the strongest. They made 11 (over the fence) home runs today," he told The Jakarta Post.
The organizing committee awarded Pakistan's Kamran Mehboob with three titles: Best Hitter, Best Slugger and Most Home Runs. Teammate Sadaf Akram got the Most Stolen Bases title.
Lukmanul Hakim of Indonesian won the Most RBIs while teammates Michael Trisnadi got the Most Valuable Player and Tony Pribadi the Golden Glove titles.
Meanwhile, Nattapong Sampahaongsit of Thailand got the Best Pitcher title. (nvn)