THE ATENEO Baseball Team (ABT) suffered defeat at the hands of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Sox in their first University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 outing, 3-13. The contest was held earlier today at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in the City of Manila.
This setback puts them at a 0-1 win-loss record to begin the UAAP Season 87 Baseball tournament, placing them at the bottom of the standings.
Kicking off the match, the Blue Eagles struggled to put runs on the board after a series of groundouts went against their favor. The España-based squad then delivered serious blows in the opening inning after multiple runs-batted-in (RBI) by Justine Rosales, Prince Geronimo, and Cedrick Marquez to place the score at 3-0.
Needing to mitigate the damage, Ateneo catcher Afy Tueres delivered a single run, courtesy of a line drive by Bop Bernando, to slowly close the gap at the end of the third, 1-4. The Katipunan-based squad went into the bottom of the third inning with a defensive mindset, with pitcher Joshua De Juras throwing a chain of tough pitches to stump UST’s scoring.
After a pair of runs in the fourth inning by the Golden Sox, the Blue and White showed signs of life in the top of the fifth, sparked by Zeke Laygo’s grounder that carried Tueres to second base. This was immediately followed by another single—courtesy of Bernardo—before Luis Casanova batted in two runs, 3-6, capping off the top of the inning. After UST came up scoreless at the bottom of the sixth, the Blue and White looked to further decrease the gap.
However, another empty inning for the Blue Eagles allowed the Golden Sox’s offensive onslaught to continue, beginning with Rosales who assisted in Vargas’ return to home plate, 3-7. A costly pitch by De Juras hitting batter Marquez later awarded another run in favor of UST, 3-8.
At the bottom of the seventh, UST came alive to close out the game. The Golden Sox’s scoring surge began with Vargas recording an RBI after bringing home Mhiegeil Cerda, 3-9. Ultimately closing out the game for UST was once again Rosales who delivered an inside-the-park home run. This resulted in four runs being added to UST’s tally, increasing their advantage to double digits to seal the game after just seven innings, 3-13.
Despite the setback, Blue Eagle pitcher De Juras stated the positives that can be taken from the game despite its abrupt end.
“Maganda naman ‘yung fielding namin. Tapos, kailangan pa namin i-improve ‘yung batting, fielding, lalo na doon sa pitching, kasi parang ‘yun ang kulang sa’min. Ang communication rin ay key talaga kasi parang hindi nagtutuloy-tuloy ‘yung hits namin,” De Juras said.
(Our fielding was pretty good. We just really need to improve our batting, fielding, and especially our pitching, because I think that’s where we are lacking. Communication is also key since we couldn’t convert our hits into runs.)
The Blue Eagles will look to avenge their opening loss in their bout against the DLSU Green Batters on Sunday, March 2, at 10:30 AM in the same venue.
The Lines:
Ateneo (3): 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 x x – 3 3 5
UST (13): 3 1 0 2 0 2 5 x x – 13 13 1
Current Standings (W-L):
- UST Golden Sox (1-0)
- UP Fighting Maroons (1-0)
- NU Bulldogs (1-0)
- AdU Soaring Falcons (0-1)
- DLSU Green Batters (0-1)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-1)
