UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas continued its second round resurgence in the UAAP Season 85 Baseball Tournament, taking an 8-4 decision against skidding Ateneo de Manila University, Sunday at UP Diliman Baseball Field.
Justine Rosales, the Golden Sox’s second baseman, slammed an inside-the-park homer in the seventh inning — his third hit in three at-bats — to break a three-all deadlock.
Rosales sent the ball into the right-center fencing and the ball bounced back into the field to stay in play. Ateneo’s fielders could not keep up with the rookie’s pace and he eventually scored after third baseman Reden Tapia and first baseman Daniel Camarsi reached home.
The win raised the Golden Sox to a share of fourth place with its victims Blue Eagles and National University at a 2-5 win-loss record.
UST head coach Jeffrey Santiago was pleased with how his wards are playing at the start of the second round.
“Team na silang gumalaw. May depense, may opensa, nag-uusap na sila. Maganda, maganda nilaro ng mga bata,” said the UST great.
Relief pitcher Prince Harry Geronimo made amends for the Golden Sox after giving up the tying runs in the sixth inning. The rookie pitcher limited Ateneo to a single run and struck out four batters in the last four innings in a no-relief job in eight innings.
Ateneo made it a game, scoring two in the sixth inning to level the score at three.
Second baseman Javi Limpo sent Geronimo’s ball to the very center before he scored off a right-field line double from Luis Capati. Capati then reached home off a throwing error from UST rightfielder Reymond Vargas.
Limpo added another run in the eighth but it was all the Blue Eagles could manage, as Matthew San Juan absorbed a defeat on a relief job at the mound on the eight innings he pitched — taking in six runs on three hits, including that homer from Rosales.
The Blue Eagles suffered their fifth straight loss.
The Line:
Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ateneo 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 4 5 6
UST 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 2 X 8 4 5
