Philippines hosts Asia-Pacific baseball at Clark

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will host the 2016 Asia-Pacific Intermediate and Senior Baseball Tournament on July 11-17 at The Villages in Clark.

Ten teams from eight countries will slug it out for AsPac crown and the right to compete in the Intermediate 50/70 World Series in Livermore, California and the Senior League Baseball World Series in Bangor, Maine next month.

The host country will field in Sarangani, a team supported by Sen. Manny Pacquiao, in the Intermediate division against rivals from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Korea, the defending champion.

For the Seniors League, Phl will enter the International League Association of Manila (ILLAM), which will engage opposition from titlist CNMI, Australia, Guam and Indonesia.

The tournament will start with the traditional opening ceremonies on July 11 at 9 a.m. with Little League Asia-Pacific regional director BH Chow, along with the district administrators of the participating countries led by Jolly Gomez of host Philippines, in attendance.

The Filipino bets hope to capitalize on home advantage to advance their cause in the weeklong event sponsored by Mister Donut, the Philippine Sports Commission, Malcolm’s, Tupperware, KFC and Tokyo Tokyo, where the champions will advance to the World Series.

“We have a good chance in the Seniors (division), considering teams are evenly matched there,” said Little League Philippines deputy district administrator Chito Gonzalez. “As for the Intermediate (division), we will  have our hands full with the presence of Korea and Japan.”