De La Salle University secured its sixth consecutive postseason appearance in the UAAP Collegiate Men’s Baseball Tournament after shutting out University of Santo Tomas, 10–0, in seven innings on Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Malate, Manila.
The Green Batters have advanced to the next round every season since reaching the UAAP Season 80 Finals against the Adamson Soaring Falcons. And they did so in style against the Golden Sox, putting on a dominant offensive display.
With the victory, La Salle maintained a share of the lead with defending champion National University at 6–2.
After two scoreless innings, La Salle broke through in the third with two runs, taking advantage of a UST error and two hits from Marco Tantuico and Liam De Vera.
Ezy Bautista drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly from Marco Flores. Barry Oñas then and Tantuico added two more runs to extend the lead to three.
The Taft-based squad showed no signs of slowing down. Five more runs in the fourth inning, fueled by five walks issued by UST pitchers Jesus Cabigao and Eljin Mendoza, ballooned the lead to eight.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
“Same game plan: maigting na paluan and, at the same time, paganahin namin ‘yung depensa kasi si Liam (De Vera) ang pupukol. Tulungan nga sa depensa para tumagal ang pitching niya,” said long-time head coach Joseph Orillana.
“Ang habol rin namin is ma-force namin ‘yung UST into errors. Kasi ‘pag UST mag-error, magpapalit ‘yan ng tao. So, para masira namin ‘yung lineup, mainit na paluan rin talaga ‘yung gumana sa game namin.”
Flores made his lone hit of the game count in that fourth inning — a double to right field that scored Yuta Kajihara and Bautista, giving him three RBIs. Kajihara added two RBIs in the seventh, driving in Yuan Sumague and Pio Villamiel to seal the victory.
De Vera delivered a complete-game, five-hit shutout, striking out six Golden Sox batters in the process.
“One game at a time pa rin kami. Every game is a must-win game; ayaw naming mag-relax din kasi ang habol namin is mag-top two, habol namin is mag-twice-to-beat,” Orillana, a Lasallian legend in his own right, added.
“So, focus pa rin kami do’n, and anything after that is bahala na kung anong mangyayari. Basta focus muna kami na finish the second round strong and get into the top two.”
La Salle will aim to secure one of the two twice-to-beat advantages in the Final Four when they face Adamson University (4–4) in Sunday’s opener at 7:00 AM, also at the Malate venue.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
UST managed just five hits scattered throughout the game, failing to challenge the La Salle defense.
The Golden Sox fell to 2–6, just behind the UP Fighting Maroons and the Ateneo Blue Eagles, both at 3–5.
UST will try to stay alive in the hunt for one of the remaining semifinal spots when it faces UP in Sunday’s final game.
| TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UST | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | x | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| DLSU | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | x | x | x | 10 | 8 | 0 |
