ILLAM rips Indonesia, keeps title hopes alive

Diego Lozano broke out of his slump to power International Little League Association of Manila to an 11-1 clobbering of Indonesia yesterday in Junior Baseball of the Little League Asia Pacific Regional Championships at the Clark parade grounds in Angeles City.

Hitless in the first two games, Lozano went 3-for-3 this time, helping the Manila batters to their second win in three outings that kept them in contention for a place in the boys’ 13-14 division finals.

Lozano drove in two runs as ILLAM rebounded from a 1-4 setback to Marianas last Monday.

Meanwhile, Iloilo moved within a win of retaining the title in Junior League softball, after a 20-0 demolition of Indonesia earlier.

With only two teams vying in the division, organizers reduced the division to a best-of-three playoff with the Ilonggos going for a sweep Wednesday.

Lozano buckled down to work in the fourth inning where his triple scored Koichi Igarashi while advancing Igee Escano to third.

A Raf Pascual flyball to centerfield scored Lozana. In the next frame, Lozano sent Igarashi home with a single to seal the victory.

Despite the victory, ILLAM manager Arsenic Laurel believes there’s plenty of room for improvement for his squad, which could have wrapped up the win earlier only to have 15 players stranded on base.

“We will just have to pick up on our offense,” said Laurel, whose team tackles Guam for a place in the final today. Guam absorbed a 4-6 decision to Marianas in 11 innings.

The victory virtually assured Marianas of a championship seat. Indonesia kept New Zealand winless with 3-0 blanking in the Major League 11-12 division.

But Hong Kong subdued Indonesa, 10-6, for its first win in Group B of Junior League play of the event sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, Clark Development Corp., Globe, Limitless Possibilities and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Steve Silva, Contributor