Indonesia scores 13-9 upset over Thailand

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)