July
7, 2015, 11:03 a.m. –
THE UST Golden Sox suffered a costly 3-13 defeat at the hands of a veteran
Itakura Parts Philippines Corporation (IPPC) club and settled for fourth place
in the Luzon leg of the Philippine National Games baseball tournament at the
Rizal Stadium Monday.
IPPC’s sturdy and
consistent batting shattered UST’s defense throughout the match.
Golden Sox head coach
Jeffrey Santiago decided not to go for the bronze medal with the team’s health
already in peril.
“Kaya naman
mag-third place kaso tinignan ko yung mga bata, hindi na nila kaya. Yung iba
may sakit na at yung iba injured pa,” Santiago explained.
IPPC took advantage of
the UST’s faulty pitching to score six easy runs in the sixth inning for the
final tally before officials stopped the match due to the mercy rule.
Golden Sox Alwen Calbang
converted a run in the second inning to start things off for
UST. Noel Valencia’s two runs batted in (RBI) then sent Kirk Peralta and
Kirk Daquis to home plate for a 3-1 lead.
But IPPC’s Marvin Malig
took charge and unleashed three RBIs to gain the upperhand, 4-3. Their
offensive surge continued with another three runs in the fifth inning.
UST missed the services
of Amiel Lallana, who had a flu, and Christian Mercado, who had an injured
knee.
“Maganda yung
pinakita ng team sa PNG. Happy ako except for today,” Santiago told
the Varsitarian. Carlo A. Casingcasing
