Habagat moving to UAAP?
A UAAP school with no junior baseball program is offering to provide athletic scholarships for the 13 to 14-year-old players of Philippine Habagat coached by Ronnie Lugay and carve a pathway to a collegiate career.
Philippine Habagat Baseball Inc. president Mike Ochosa yesterday confirmed talks are ongoing with school officials but declined to disclose details. “There were only three UAAP baseball senior teams with a junior counterpart, La Salle, Ateneo and UST, this past season,” he said. “Adamson, UP and NU had no junior team while UE and FEU didn’t participate in either the seniors or juniors. Although it’s still in the works, the school has verbally agreed to absorb the boys as athletic scholars. So, bottom line, we’ve set up these boys to finish their high school and go to college through baseball.”
Habagat recently participated as a guest team in the Protect Our Nation’s Youth ( PONY) Asia- Pacific World Series qualifier at the Ayala Alabang Country Club. Habagat was bracketed with South Korea and Chinese-Taipei in the preliminaries. Lugay’s squad surprised South Korea by racing to a 6-4 lead then crumbled in the seventh inning behind a torrent of hits, triggered by a homerun with two strikes and two outs, to lose a 16-6 decision.
“At the end of the sixth inning, the score was tied, 6-all,” said Ochosa. “Then at the top of the seventh, I thought South Korea was over with two strikes and two outs. Suddenly, they cracked a homer with nobody on base and followed it up with a succession of hits. By the time they were done, the score was 16-6. Still, we managed to push South Korea to the seventh. We didn’t want to lose through the mercy rule where the match is stopped with a lead of 10 by the fifth inning.”
After bowing to South Korea in the morning, Habagat was back on the diamond to face Chinese-Taipei in the afternoon. This time, the Filipino boys were outgunned from the start. Chinese-Taipei led, 4-0, in the first inning and 5-0 in the second. Lugay rotated at least five pitchers to fend off Chinese-Taipei’s sluggers but to no avail. Chinese-Taipei bowled over the Philippines, 28-0.
In a consolation match the next day, Habagat defeated Indonesia, 186, in five innings. Indonesia was in the other bracket with Japan and the Philippines A-team. Habagat’s lineup was composed of John Matanguihan of Tanauan, Patrick de los Reyes of Canlubang, Ethan Mitschiener of Muntinlupa, Joao Miguel Severino of Marikina, Jemar Resoriaga of Marikina, Herald Tenorio of Cabuyao, Joshua de Juras of Canlubang, Ivan Jonson of Marikina, Jomar Sitchon of Calamba, Oliver Tumbaga of Canlubang and Kenneth de los Santos of Tanauan. Ruel Batuto served as Lugay’s assistant coach.
Ochosa said the boys come from public schools except Mitschiener who is enrolled at Ateneo. “The offer to bring the boys to a UAAP school is a big break,” he said. “Over a span of six years, we’ve trained over 250 boys and sent nine teams to different countries to compete in various international tournaments. Playing against the best in the world can only raise the level of skill of our young baseball players. Our vision with Habagat is ‘better players, better people.’ The Philippines was once a powerhouse in baseball. In the last three decades, the sport has lost its appeal. From being ranked in the top five, we are now No. 28 in the International Baseball Federation. It is our firm belief that we can be great again in this sport. The challenge is to find a breakthrough moment that can create interest and support for baseball in the Philippines.”
Ochosa said Philippine Tot Baseball Foundation president and PONY International Southeast Asia director Rodolfo Tingzon Jr. invited Habagat to play as a guest team in the recent World Series qualifier. In the final, Chinese-Taipei downed South Korea for the right to represent Asia Pacific in the PONY League World Series in Pennsylvania on Aug. 4-7.
Tingzon said hosting the qualifier was a rare opportunity to promote baseball to the youth and to show other countries that the Philippines is an attractive sports tourism destination with the capability of staging international caliber events.
“It was actually a pay- for- play tournament where teams paid a fee to participate,” said Ochosa. “But as a guest team, Habagat came in on Mr. Tingzon’s invitation with the joining fee waived. We brought together the best 13 to 14 year-olds for this competition. Although we were a guest team, we got to play against South Korea and Chinese-Taipei because we were drawn to the same bracket. The boys we recruited are from barangays and municipalities in Rizal, Batangas and Laguna. They’re from public schools, except Ethan, and play for community teams. Our major sponsor was DECA Homes, the housing brand of 8990 Holdings. DECA Homes has supported Habagat from the start, providing for the boys’ training, nutrition and equipment. We’ve also received support from Alaska Milk, Gatorade and Cebu Pacific.”
Ochosa said participating in the qualifier was a test of Habagat’s mettle against the best Asian teams and a chance for selected underprivileged boys to play in an international tournament. “We’re lucky Ronnie is our head coach,” said Ochosa.