Indonesia scores 13-9 upset over Thailand

JAKARTA (JP): Host Indonesia upset Thailand 13-9 in day-four action at the fourth Asian Cup Baseball Championship at Bung Karno Baseball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Neither team scored in the first inning. In the top of the second, Thailand's Pairot Ruxsari manufactured the first run of the game. He stole the second and third with Sarawut Updullor at the plate. Updullor then got a hit to drive in Ruxsari from third.

In the bottom half of the inning, Lukmanul Hakim stole home with Gilberto Sajogo at the plate for Indonesia's first run. Gilberto then worked a base on balls but was stranded at first.

The third and fourth innings saw no runs from either team.

In the bottom of the fifth, Indonesia went ahead 2-1 when Michael Trisnadi drove Lukmanul home with one out.

Thailand came back in the sixth with three runs. Panick Somnasang started the scoring with a solo homer. Buning Yindee then got a two-out hit to drive in Anusorn Montree and Teerasak Kongsabai.

In the bottom of the sixth, Andryo Haripradono drove in Adi Susanto with one out, making the score 4-3.

Indonesia exploded for eight runs in the seventh inning to take an 11-4 lead. Tony Pribadi slapped a hit to drive in Chindy Patria from third and Michael from second with the first two runs of the inning.

Adi then drove in Yuno Dewanto and sent Tony scampering over to second. Tony was later plated by Andryo for a 7-4 lead.

With Lukmanul on first, Andryo on second and Adi on third, Yadi Suriadi cleared the bases with a base hit. Michael then sent Yadi home for the 11-4 lead.

In the top of the eighth, Yindee drove in Ruxsasri. Pipat Songneat then got on base and stole third, before being sent home on a hit by Narawut Haji-Dulah-Ngoh, making the score 11-6.

Indonesia scored two runs in its half of the inning when Adi hit his third homer of the tournament with Yuno on second, giving Indonesian a 13-6 lead going into the ninth.

With Thailand down to its final three outs, it scraped out three runs to make the game exciting.

Somnasang drove in Arthit Changthad from third and later scored on a hit by Kongsabai. Kongsabai scored Thailand's final run when Montree got a base hit on a 2-1 count.

But the rally was put out when Yindee made the last out of the game.

"Indonesia is a strong team with more experience. My boys need more experience. Our pitcher was throwing slow but I still have two more pitchers," Thailand manager Songpon Rujivong said after the game.

Indonesia manager Rahmad Nasir said his infielders made too many errors on easy grounders.

"Perhaps they underestimated the opponent or it was because it was a tense game," he said.

Earlier, Uzbekistan beat Malaysia 21-5 in five innings, and favorite Pakistan defeated Hong Kong 14-3 in seven innings in a game that featured two homers by the Pakistan team.

Sarfaraz Ahmad hit a two-run blast in the second inning and Basit Murtaza matched his teammate in the seventh.

Malaysia will face Pakistan, Indonesia will meet Uzbekistan and Thailand will square off against Hong Kong on Thursday.

Pakistan, undefeated in the championship, is not expected to have any difficulty with Malaysia and should move to the top of the standings.

Pakistan would then face either Hong Kong or Uzbekistan in Saturday's semifinals. In the other semifinal game, Indonesia will again meet Thailand.

"It is still difficult for me to predict how the semifinal game will go because Thailand did not use its best pitcher. I also saved our best pitcher as part of our strategy," Rachmad said. (nvn)