Uzbekistan beats Malaysia 19-3 in consolation game

JAKARTA (JP): Uzbekistan outclassed Malaysia 19-3 on Friday in the consolation game of the fourth Asian Cup Baseball Championship on Friday, to finish fifth in the event.

Uzbekistan had already beaten Malaysia 21-5 in round-robin play on Wednesday at Bung Karno Baseball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Batting in the top of the first, Malaysia failed to score. In the bottom of the inning, Leonid Plokhoy and Andrey Korsakov led Uzbekistan to a 2-0 lead.

Uzbekistan scored five runs in the bottom of the second. Plokhoy drove in Andrey Anokhin, and then Valeriy Mishkin got a base knock to send home Sergey Gribkov and Plokhoy. Korsakov then hit a two-run homer to give Uzbekistan a 5-0 lead.

Malaysia scored twice in the top of the third. Saravanan H. Subramanian drove in Chan Man Ho and then scored on a hit by Adi Yusman Muhammad Yusuf, closing the gap to 7-2.

Uzbekistan failed to score in its half of the inning, with the Malaysian hurler striking out the side.

Uzbekistan started a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth, scoring five runs. Korsakov began the barrage by blasting his second four-bagger of the game.

Ruslan Sari then stole a run with Alisher Muratbayev at the plate. Uzbekistan then proceeded to load the bags for Polystanov, who delivered a base knock to drive in Muratbayev, Maksim Prokhorchev and Anokhin, giving his team a 12-2 lead.

In the fifth inning, Malaysia scored a run when Faizal Amini Mohammad Yusuf delivered a two-out hit to drive in Subramanian, making it 12-3.

Uzbekistan collected another seven runs in the bottom of the sixth. Alexander Travkin was driven home by Ogozodov, who sat on the 3-1 pitch and scorched a base hit. Ogozodov was then sent home by Korsakov.

With the bases juiced, Malaysian pitcher Chan walked Muratbayev, sending Mishkin trotting home.

Korsakov and Muratbayev scored on a hit by Anokhin, and Prokhorchev and Anohkin scored the final two runs of the game on a hit by Plokhoy.

The game was called after the sixth inning because Uzbekistan had a 15-run lead.

"This is Uzbekistan's first international participation, so ending up in fifth place is a good result. We learned a lot from our games here, including when we met Indonesia," Uzbekistan manager Sergey Korjakov told The Jakarta Post through an interpreter.

"We will start a league back home in spring to give our players more experience.

"I must also congratulate the organizing committee for this well-organized event and for the host's hospitality," he said.

Malaysia's Japanese coach Hirofumi Sakamoto said the competition was tough for his players.

"Despite the bad results, we were able to identify what our weaknesses are so we can start to fix them back home," he said, citing poor fielding, positioning in the field and physical fitness as some of the things that needed addressing.

"We must also improve the ability of our pitchers because we lost many runs due to our pitchers' mistakes. However, this is a very good starting point for Malaysian baseball. We will start to build a strong national team." (nvn)