The last time the Adamson University Baseball Team were in the Finals was back in Season 72.
Even if all of their student-athletes have yet to experience being in a Finals, the Soaring Falcons showed no fear, hammering the more experienced and top-seeded De La Salle University Green Batters, 14-4 abb. 7th inning, Tuesday afternoon at the historic Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
| TEAMS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 3th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | R | H | E |
| AdU (1-0) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | x | x | 14 | 13 | 3 | ||
| DLSU (0-1) | 3 | x | x | 4 | 7 | 7 |
“Actually, hindi talaga surprising ‘to, pinaghandaan natin ito,” said Adamson head coach Orlando Binarao, who steered the Soaring Falcons to the top, eight years ago. “Ang secret weapon lang talaga namin dito is practice lang ng practice hanggang matapos yung season. Buti naman, nagbunga yung mga sinakripisyo namin.”
Leading Most Valuable Player Jerome Yenson towed the Soaring Falcons to victory, going 3-of-4 at-bat while picking up three runs and three RBIs.
“Siya yung lethal weapon ko. Sabi ko nga, kahit anong mangyari, siya yung gagamitin ko. Mabuti nag-click naman,” Binarao remarked about Yenson, who is playing in his final year.
On the other end, the native of Talavera, Nueva Ecija was sensational on the mound. In the six innings he pitched, he surrendered just seven hits and fanned four batters.
However, it was La Salle’s errors that sparked Adamson’s strong start.
An error by second baseman Anton Acuna against Erwin Bosito opened the contest, and was immediately brought home by Gerald Riparip. Another fielding error by La Salle brought home Jerome Yenson later on, while singles courtesy of Lexter Carandang and Raymond Matic punched in two more runs.
La Salle were able to get three back in the next inning, highlighted by a 2-RBI double by center fielder Paolo Salud. But Adamson continued to take advantage of the error-plagued Green Batters. A total of six errors were committed by the UAAP Season 78 champions in the fourth and fifth innings that led to eight more runs.
Besides Yenson, Carandang, who closed out the game for Adamson, had two hits in the game.
“Tulad ng sinasabi ko, ang weapon lang namin is practice at huwag relax. Friday, sana last game na yun,” said Binarao.
Game 2 will be played on Friday, March 16.
