THE Philippines opens its Asian Baseball Championship campaign against world no. 1 and defending champ Japan in Pingtan, China on Monday.
The Group A action begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Pingtan Baseball Park.
Led by coach Orlando Binarao, the world No. 24 Filipinos are looking to make a strong impression in the biennial meet even with a lineup composed mostly of student-athletes from the UAAP and SCUAA.
n Francis Gonzaga PBA PHOTO
“Our lineup might be mostly made up of student-athletes from the UAAP and SCUAA but I trust that they can perform because of the effort they’ve shown in training,” said Binarao.
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The tournament is divided into two groups of A and B with the top two teams from each group advancing to the ‘Super Round’.
There, the qualified teams face each other in a single round robin format with the top two finishers entering the gold medal match, while the bottom two teams fighting for bronze.
The Philippines will next face world No. 19 China on Tuesday and round out its group phase campaign against No. 32 Pakistan on Wednesday.
Ideally, the Filipinos need to win two matches to make the Super Round.
Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Palestine, meanwhile, make up the Group B.
AloJapan.com