THE UST Golden Sox crumbled late and succumbed to the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, 11-10, to finish their UAAP Season 81 baseball campaign at fourth place at the Rizal Memorial Stadium Wednesday.
With Ateneo trailing 8-10 in the ninth inning, Blue Eagle Rod Bitong hit a right-field-fly two runs-batted-in (RBI) double that sent Fausto Eizmendi and Gio Salvatierra to home plate to tie the game at 10-all.
Kiko Andaya then hit a grounder RBI that brought Bitong back home for the comeback victory.
“Kinapos lang kami sa huli. Sayang pero sabi ko sa mga bata, ‘wag ma-demoralize kasi skillful (sila). Kayang-kaya namin makabawi next year,” Golden Sox head coach Jeffrey Santiago told the Varsitarian.
With the Blue Eagles up 4-3, Golden Sox Mark Beronilla hammered a two-run home run in the sixth inning to put UST ahead, 5-4.
The Golden Sox added four more runs in the sixth inning courtesy of Benedict Pedracio, Alwen Calbang, Jayvee Selda and Jackson Acuña, 9-4.
Ateneo stringed together four conversions in the seventh and eighth stanzas via Marco Mallari, Conrado Banzon, Andaya and Bitong to trim the deficit, 8-9.
UST finished the tournament with a 4-6 win-loss record anew.
The Golden sox will miss the services of Jamil Santiago, Ian Llave and Calbang next season after exhausting their playing years.
