Fundamentals will be key to Hong Kong victory

Hong Kong coach Bob Drapeau believes that both their Junior and Senior league teams need to stick to the fundamentals of baseball to emerge victorious in the 2015 Junior, Senior, and Big League Asia Pacific Middle East Regional Tournament.

The Hong Kong Junior League players and officials pose for a group photo. (Contributed Photo)

Hong Kong’s Junior and Senior league squads were scheduled to arrive on Saipan via Asiana Airlines flight 625, early Thursday morning (1:50am) in time for the ASPAC opening. The annual Little League baseball event, which offers one berth each to the three divisions’ World Series, is set from June 26 to July 5 at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field. Drapeau will join his squads later as he will be arriving at 8am on Friday and staying at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan, while both Hong Kong teams are billeted at the Mango Resort.

Drapeau, who will be assisting Hong Kong Junior League team manager Thomas Harrison Hill, said their teams must stick to their game plan and keep in mind the basic skills used in batting, pitching, and picking up ground balls.

“For our teams to be successful in this regional tournament on Saipan, we will have to play good fundamental baseball and keep our errors to a minimum,” added Drapeau, whose son Jonathan Lim Drapeau is a member of the Junior League squad.

“The team has been training and practicing together for more than two months. We believe we have strong pitching and a solid contingent of outfielders,” Drapeau said.

The team is composed of players from different teams that competed in the Hong Kong Little League’s last season from September 2014 to March 2015. Tryouts for the 14 spots at stake were held right after the season

The Junior League team has a mix of eight Hong Kong-Chinese nationals, three Japanese, two Americans, and one South Korean.

“The team is comprised of a melting pot of kids that is similar to the face of Hong Kong. My son Jonathan was actually born in Malaysia. While he is a U.S. citizen he has lived in China from shortly after birth to the age of 13. He is fluent in Mandarin,” said Drapeau.

Kwok Yu Conrad, Koh Nakayama, Tam Ho Ki, Lee Taekwon, Tomiyama Yoki, Ao Cheuk Hin, Ng Wang Lok, Lo Go Yin, Fung Wing Hon, Shu Furukawa, Thomas Anthony Hill, Fong Tsz Hei, and Chiu Lok Hang are the other members of Hong Kong’s Junior League team.

Thomas Kim, Matthew Tung, Delorme Titouan, Taishi Ono, Major Lee, Zach Fried, Wilson Yu, Alex Hui, Max Fu, Ryan Vo, Alex Chan, Kidd Lau, and Yan Mak are on the roster of Hong Kong’s Senior League squad, which is managed by Taylor Dozier.

Hong Kong’s Senior League squad will have its first game against the Philippines this Saturday at 3pm, while the former’s Junior League crew will take on defending Chinese-Taipei also on Saturday at 1pm.