THE ATENEO Baseball team marked the opening of their campaign in Season 79 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) with a convincing win over host school University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Sunday, February 5 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Manila.

With their core of starters largely intact, the Blue Eagles dominated throughout the match, managing to hold a ten-run lead by the seventh inning to take their first game of the season via mercy rule.

Ateneo started strong, scoring two-runs at the bottom of the first inning off a homerun from last year’s Most Homeruns awardee Marco Mallari. UST would then answer back with an offensive rally that brought left-fielder Christian Angeles home for the score to cut the score to 2-1 at the top of the second.

However, the Blue Eagles would eventually pull away, scoring three runs in the third inning and four in the fourth to hold the hosts at bay and bring the score to 9-2. Mallari contributed three hits and five RBIs off four at bats, while junior Radito Banzon hit a perfect four for four with 2 RBIs, claiming responsibility for seven out of twelve of the Eagles’s runs.

Unrelenting offense spelled the key to victory for the Blue Eagles, as 1-RBI doubles from Marquis Alindogan at the bottom of the fourth and from Mallari and Banzon at the bottom of the fifth brought the team within a ten-point deficit entering the seventh inning in the lead at 12-2.

Veteran pitcher Paulo Macasaet knocked in seven strikeouts to hold the opponent at bay. Miggy Angeles then closed the game, holding UST scoreless at the top of the seventh to invoke mercy rule and end the game at 12-2.

With the squad on the road to redemption, Coach Randy Dizer stressed the importance of minimizing errors, highlighting that lapses on defense or offense could be their demise in more crucial games. However, he praised the performance of the Blue Eagles as a team, stating that any finish lower than first place was inexcusable.

“I think we’re there with the way we’re hitting and the level of confidence,” says Dizer. “There can be no excuses, so we have to get it this time.”

Opening their campaign for redemption with a strong performance, the Blue Eagles are set to play National University in their next game on Wednesday, February 8 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Manila.