THE UST Golden Sox scored a 17-12 win against the Ateneo Blue Eagles for a share of the top seed in the UAAP Season 86 baseball tournament at the UP Diliman Baseball Field on Thursday, March 7.
UST is now tied with De La Salle University atop the standings with identical 3-1 win-loss records, while Ateneo dropped to a 2-2 tally for the third spot.
After a strong start by UST in the first inning, 7-2, Ateneo stormed back through the next five innings and cut UST’s lead to two with Blue Eagle Javi Limpo’s run in the bottom sixth, 12-10.
With Ateneo’s relief pitcher John De Juras on the mound in top of the eighth inning, UST catcher Timothy Caldo launched a run-batted-in (RBI) triple to right field to send Mhigeil Cerda home before John Vargas’ RBI triple also scored Caldo, 14-10.
After a wild pitch drove Vargas home, 15-10, Jester Tapia and Justin Rosales chipped in a pair of runs off of rookie Jesus Cabigao’s two-out double, 17-10.
The Blue Eagles tried to spark a comeback in the bottom of the ninth as they tallied two more runs, 17-12. However, with one out left, relief pitcher Harry Geronimo threw a full-count pitch to finish off Ateneo’s Jacob Laygo for his 10th strikeout of the game, icing the Golden Sox’s third victory.
Although the Golden Sox connected on offense, logging 18 hits, head coach Jeffrey Santiago said that the team needs to limit their opponent’s offense.
“Hindi ako convinced. Malaki ang score nila,” Santiago told the Varsitarian. “Pero itong laro na ‘to, malakas ang opensa ng kalaban at saka marami tayong mga erratic error kaya delikado ‘yung dose ang score. Dapat malimit namin ‘yang score.”
Geronimo pitched eight and a half innings after replacing Raniel Carido on the mound, and allowed seven hits in the game. Santiago said he is expecting his other Golden Sox pitchers to step up in the next game as he plans to rest Geronimo.
“Si Geronimo definitely hindi na siya makapukol gawa nagpapahinga na siya,” the head coach said. “Mayroon tayong inaabangan na pitchers diyan. Sana mag-deliver sila.”
Cabigao paced the Golden Sox’s offense, delivering five hits on six at-bats that drove in five RBIs.
The Golden Sox held the Blue Eagles at bay for most of the game, leading by as much as seven runs in the top of the first inning as Vargas, Mark Cabase, Rosales, Geronimo, Steven Dominguez and Cerda each scored a run.
The UST Golden Sox will close out their first-round campaign against the National University Bulldogs at the same venue on March 10, Sunday, at 8 a.m.
