The Philippines could be in for a difficult challenge to retain the East Asia Baseball Cup crown judging from the way it scored a 4-2 win over Hong Kong in the Super Round—a dress rehearsal of sorts for Sunday’s final—at The Villages in Clark, Pampanga on Saturday.

John Vargas once again came through for the Filipinos with a two-run single in the sixth that erased a 2-1 Hong Kong lead—the first time that the Filipinos were headed here.

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And that will likely leave coach Vince Sagisi and his Nationals with plenty to ponder on before facing Hong Kong anew at 11 a.m. on Sunday to win this event for the fifth time.

It will be a rematch of last year’s final in Thailand which saw the Filipinos defeat Hong Kong, 10-2, behind a six-run fourth inning. That meeting will obviously be on the back burner, especially after how the Super Round clash turned out.

Best hitter

Hong Kong went ahead in the bottom of the fifth after Andy Lo’s single off reliever Kennedy Torres with two outs to score Cheuk Kiu Chan from third and Chun Lam Mok from second.

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But Vargas showed why he’s arguably the Philippines’ best hitter with a .538 batting average, a slugging percentage of 1.154 and two home runs and six RBIs in the competition with a single to left that brought home Kyle Soberano and Lord de Vera from second and third.

A sacrifice fly by Soberano in the seventh scored Jennald Pareja from third and gave the Philippines an insurance run before Clarence Caasalan secured a four-inning save after striking out four and giving up one hit.

The Philippines scored the first run in the top half of the first after De Vera scored on a fielder’s choice, but couldn’t tack on more against Hong Kong pitcher Kin Nam Tsang.

Tsang struck out seven Filipino batters despite allowing five hits and walking five in five innings.