Hosts Walnut, California struck early and often en route to a 21-6 victory over the Asia Pacific Champions, Manila, Philippines.

With two runners on base, Noah Pasaporte singled to center field bringing in both runners. An error allowed another run on the next at bat. Following a line out to center field, Micah Welch doubled to right field to bring in another run for a 4-0 lead. After shutting out Manila in the bottom of the first inning, Walnut got back on the board in the top of the second through a Jeremiah Broadway single to second base and then a ground out from Pasaporte brought Broadway home for a 6-0 lead. Broadway’s single in the top of the third inning brought in two more for the hosts before Manila struck back with an inside the park home run from Prince Prondoza, cutting the deficit to 8-2. The Philippines struck again in the third on Paolo Tugade’s single to shortstop.

Following a scoreless fourth inning, Walnut stepped back on the gas in the fifth inning, scoring on Adam Cabrera’s single to shortstop, Pasaporte’s pop out to shortstop, and an error which brought in two runs for a 12-3 lead.

The Philppines cut the deficit in half by the end of the fifth inning, scoring on Emilio Borja’s single to left field and two balks from the Walnut pitcher.

However, the wheels fell off in the top of the sixth, when Walnut scored nine runs to finish off the game. Benjamin Garcia tripled to left field and brought in one, Ryan Moreno and Adrian Baldomino singled to right field for an RBI a piece, and Cabrera singled on a pop fly to shortstop for a 16-6 lead. The hosts took advantage of two errors, adding another two runs before Welch’s single brought in a third run and Garcia’s double to left field brought in the final two runs.

Benjamin Garcia finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs to lead all batters with Micah Welch not far behind, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Noah Pasaporte finished with four strikeouts on the night, while Muaki Fa’anunu totaled up three strikeouts for the hosts. Miguel Cruzat led the way on the mound for Manila with one strikeout.

With the win, Walnut move to 1-1 in the tournament and will play Guasave, Mexico in the next round at 5:00 PM. Manila, Philippines drop to 0-2 and will face Wilmington, North Carolina at 2:30 PM.