Flashing sharp forms, two Philippine teams launched their campaign on a winning note Wednesday at the start of the Pony Mustang and Bronco-11 Asian Baseball Championships that was suspended by heavy rains in Singapore.
The Philippine Razcals got their title-retention bid going with a 12-6 whipping of Russia in the 9-10 Mustang division, before the Barakos cruised to an 8-1 drubbing of Singapore in the Bronco-11 division.
It took three innings for the Razcals to warm up and seize control after trailing at 1-3.
The Razcals exploded with seven runs in the fourth and added two more in the next inning to build a comfortable 12-3 lead.
The Russians briefly threatened with three more runs but pitchers Ivan Mendoza, Ethan Mitschiner, Sancho Llamas and Kenneth de los Santos held their ground to preserve the victory in the regional qualifiers for the Mustang and Bronco-11 World Series.
The Razcals were actually supposed to play a double-header on opening-day, but their match against the Vietnamese was cancelled because of heavy rains that inundated the field.
Singapore scored first but the Barakos responded behind the stellar hitting of CJ Castillo and Yoji Ueda, who combined for three hits that enabled the Filipinos to score eight runs.
Ueda also sparkled on the mound, striking out six batters, before Chris Clark finished off the Singaporeans.
The Razcals battle Vietnam at 9 a.m. Friday, before facing Singapore at noon.
The Barakos face the Russians at 11 a.m. Cedelf P. Tupas