YEARNING for redemption against their perennial tormentor, the UST Golden Sox turned to ace pitcher Jon-Jon Robles.
And the explosive southpaw hurler responded superbly, casting a no-hit, no-run spell over defending champion University of the Philippines (UP) in the first four innings of their 16-5 conquest of the Maroons to force a deciding Game 2 in the semifinals of the UAAP baseball tournament last Feb. 22 at the Rizal Memorial Ballpark.
The 20-year-old Robles typified the Golden Sox’s defensive ambush of the Diliman-based squad, striking out seven batters and limiting the opposition to only three runs and four hits in seven innings of intense pitching to beat UP counterpart Victor Eguia at the mound.
“I told them that defense will be our key to extending this series. It’s a good thing everyone gave their best to stop UP’s attacks, especially (Jon-Jon) Robles,” coach Jeffrey Santiago told the Varsitarian. “We will take it one game at a time.”
With Robles’ sterling performance rubbing on UST’s fielders, the Golden Sox found an easy time retiring UP’s hitters which took the Maroons until the fifth inning to break its scoring drought.
The Golden Booters then reaped the dividends of its airtight defense as they took a commanding 10-0 lead at the bottom of the fourth inning with a resounding six-run binge sparked by an Ace Baquiran hit.
Although UP managed to rack up three runs in the fifth, UST doused cold water on the Maroons offense in the next two innings as reliever Mickey Saito, who took the cudgels from Robles in the seventh inning, surrendered only two runs and three hits to wrap up the contest.
UST finalized the count with three more runs bridging the eight and ninth innings, respectively.
Early in the competition, the Golden Sox registered a come-from-behind 18-9 win against Ateneo de Manila University last Feb. 8 after subduing UP, 8-5 last Feb. 4 and National University, 3-2, last Feb. 1 to avenge their 6-10 loss over Adamson University last Jan. 28.
Third place anew
Despite failing to enter the championship round once more, the UST Softbelles still capped their Season 69 campaign on a high note, crushing University of the East (UE), 13-3, to bag third place last Feb. 21 at the Rosario Sports Complex diamond.
The victory cushioned the impact of the injury-plagued Softbelles’ 1-3 loss against UP in Game 2 of their semifinal tussle last Feb. 17.
UST previously averted early elimination with a 2-1 squeeker of the Lady Maroons last Feb. 14.
