Pinoy batters, Aussies clash in World elims

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines goes up against host Australia in the opener of one of four World Baseball Classic qualifying tournaments at the Blacktown International Sportspark tonight and with 15 foreign-born players in the 28-man roster, delegation head Marty Eizmendi is hoping to make it all the way to the global stage next year.

 In 2012, the Philippines competed in a similar qualifier in Taiwan but failed to claim the ticket to the World Baseball Classic the year after. The Philippines beat Thailand, 8-2, but bowed to Chinese-Taipei, 16-0 and New Zealand, 10-6 to finish third. Only the winner, Chinese-Taipei, went on to play in the 2013 World Baseball Classic where the Dominican Republic emerged the champion.

 This time, the Philippines is bracketed with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. There are three other qualifying tournaments to be held. Mexico will host a qualifier on March 17-20 with the Czech Republic, Germany and Nicaragua in the group. Panama will host another qualifier, also on March 17-20, with France, Colombia and Spain playing. The US will host the last qualifier on Sept. 22-26 with Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan in the bracket.

The four qualifier winners will join Japan, Chinese-Taipei, South Korea, China, Netherlands, Italy, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, USA, Venezuela and Canada in the 16-team World Baseball Classic next year. In the 2013 edition, the prize pot amounted to $14 Million with the Dominican Republic claiming the $2.7 Million first prize. The championship game was held in San Francisco while the preliminary pool games were staged in Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Scottsdale, Miami and Phoenix in the US.

 The Philippine squad left for Australia last Friday. Eizmendi is looking forward to reliving his first stint with the baseball team at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. That was when his help was sought by the national players when a troublesome group tried to block the team from representing the country. As it turned out, the POC backed up Eizmendi who took the squad to Indonesia where the batters swept their games and captured the gold medal. In early 2013, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (PABA) president Hector Navasero invited Eizmendi to join the Board. Later that year, Navasero passed away and Eizmendi took over the PABA helm.

 Head coach or manager of the Philippine team is Tim Hulett who played for the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals in a 12-year major league career. He has been the manager of the Texas Rangers’ Single A affiliate since 2007. In the coaching staff are Jesse Litsch for pitching, Jake Doyle for hitting, Wilfredo (Colbi) Hidalgo, Roel (Tata) Empacis and Ruben (Jot) Angeles.

 Litsch is a former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher. In 2008, he won 13 games and threw 176 innings with the Blue Jays. Litsch is now coaching middle and high school players in the Major League development center in China. Doyle, a Yale graduate, is involved with the Major League’s urban youth academy in Compton, California and went to the Major League Scout School.

 There are three Philippine players with major league credentials. Pitcher Clay Rapada, 34, saw action for the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians from 2007 to 2013. As a relief pitcher, the 6-5 Rapada posted an ERA of 2.82 in 70 games in 2012 when the Yankees won 95 games. He is set to join the San Francisco Giants coaching staff after the Blacktown qualifier.

 The two other former major leaguers are outfielders Eric Farris and Chris Aguila. Farris, 29, played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011 and 2012. He was the Brewers’ fourth round pick in the 2007 draft out of Loyola Marymount University and the Atlanta Braves’ fourth round pick in the 2004 draft out of Hamilton High School in Arizona. The 5-9 Farris mainly plays the outfield but has done work on second base and at shortstop. Aguila, 36, was chosen in the third round of the 1997 draft out of McQueen High School in Reno by the Florida Marlins. He played four seasons with the Marlins in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.

 Two Major League affiliated players are catcher Brad Haynal and first baseman Angelo Songco. Haynal, 24, was the Miami Marlins’ 18th round draft pick in 2014 out of San Diego State and now plays for the Batavia Muckdogs, the Marlins’ Single A affiliate. Songco, 27, was the Dodgers fourth round pick in the 2009 draft out of Loyola Marymount University. He now plays for the Spokane Indians, the Texas Rangers Single A affiliate. In 2011, Songco cracked 29 homers and drove in 114 RBIs in the minor league American Association. Last year, he had 17 homers and drove in 82 runs.

 The only Fil-Am college player in the cast is Brady Conlan, a 6-1 third baseman who was second on the California State at Dominguez Hills varsity in batting average (.344), homeruns (6) and RBIs (43) last season. Shortstop Matt Vance, a Harvard graduate, played for Germany in the 2013 World Baseball Classic but because of his Filipino lineage, he was allowed to switch to the Philippines for the qualifier. He lives in Germany where he plays for the professional Bundesliga team Buchbinder Legionare. His brother Kevin is also on the Philippine team and was recently promoted to pitch for the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple A affiliate. In the minors, Kevin posted 365 strikeouts in 328.1 innings.

 The 13 Filipino-born players are Adriane Ros Bernardo, Ernesto Binarao, Edmer del Socorro, Vladimir Eguia, Romeo Jasmin, Ferdinand Liguayan, Juan Paulo Macasaet, Alfredo Olivares, Jennald Pareja, Ronel Peralta, Jonash Ponce, Jon-Jon Robles and Vernon Diaz.