| SCOREBOARD |
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UP (2-3), 3rd-5th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 8 | 1 |
| UST (2-3), 3rd-5th | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons punched in their second win of the season with an 11-4 victory over the University of Santo Tomas Golden Sox last Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
The UP Maroons opened up the first inning on fire with two consecutive singles by team captain Martin Senador and Karl Peralta. After a fielding error by the Golden Sox that loaded up all the bases, Golden Sox starting pitcher Ian Llave was immediately subbed out for Lesmar Ventura. Senador, Peralta, and James Legaspi then scored runs for UP to end the top half of the opening inning.
The Fighting Maroons were able to extend the lead in the 2nd inning courtesy of a Senador run. But in the bottom end of the inning, the Golden Sox were able to cut the deficit into half. Amiel Lallana was walked due to balls by UP starting pitcher Gabriel Rodriguez. After a putout of the next two batters at first base, Marlon Gonzales was able to hit a RBI double that led to a Rodriguez run. Gio Martinez then hit an RBI single to right field that paved the way to a Gonzales run.
UST pitcher Ventura gave up no hits in the next two innings, including a strikeout of two UP batters. In that same span, Rodriguez gave up just a single hit and struck out three UST batters.
Peralta opened the fifth inning with a double to center field. Then, SJ San Juan hit a triple that gave Peralta the run. Legaspi then hit a double to left field that led to another run for San Juan. Joaquin Silvestre then joined Legaspi on the bases. With Silvestre and Legaspi in prime scoring positions, Gino Aganon hit a 2 RBI double to extend the UP lead to 8-2 to end the upper half of the fifth inning.
The UST Golden Sox tried to make a comeback at the bottom of the fifth. Martinez and Arvin Plaza scored consecutive runs to trim the UP lead to just four runs.
The UP Fighting Maroons hot streak continued in the 6th inning. Peralta, San Juan, and Legaspi loaded the bases with no outs. Andrei Herrera was then hit by a pitch that led to a Peralta score. The UST coaching staff subbed out Ventura for 3rd year player Kirk Daquis, the team’s third pitcher for the day. San Juan and Legaspi were able to score runs of their own to put UP up 11-4.
Rodriguez pitched the next three innings. Rodriguez only gave up a hit once, a 7th inning single by Plaza. Except for Plaza, no UST batter was able to make base.
Daquis was able to limit the batting of the Fighting Maroons in the three innings he pitched. Daquis struck out four UP batters and gave up no hits.
With UP holding a seven-run lead going into the last inning, Rodriguez was subbed out for sophomore Julio Herrera to close the game out. With one out, Martinez was walked due to balls. After a putout of Marco Reyes at 2nd base, the corners were then loaded with Martinez on 3rd and Plaza on 1st. The game was sealed after a Christian Mercado fly was caught by JC Pantan to seal the game.
This win puts the UP Fighting Maroons at a draw alongside the UST Golden Sox and the NU Bulldogs at 2-3 in the win-loss standing.
The UP Fighting Maroons were led by the three runs of Peralta and Legaspi. Peralta also had three hits (two 1B and a 2B) while Legaspi added two RBIs as well. UP starting pitcher Rodriguez gave up seven hits but UST was only able to translate them to just four runs. Moreover, Rodriguez struck out three UST batters.
Both teams will again face each other on Thursday, February 12 to open their second round campaign. The matchup is the scheduled to be the last game of the playing day. The game will still be played at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
