UNIVERSITY of the Philippines ended years of futility by sealing the first Finals berth in the UAAP Season 85 Baseball tournament after a 5-4 escape of contender Adamson University on Wednesday at the UP Diliman Baseball Field.
The Fighting Maroons, who have a record of seven wins against two defeats, returned to the championship round for the first time since UAAP Season 68, where they won against the University of Santo Tomas.
UP head coach Anthony Dizer said, “From the start, that’s what I told the boys, the effort that we put in. We were the first ones to train during the pandemic with the support of our manager, Sir Mike Asuncion. So, we were ahead in training, and I said, we’re getting closer. The season started, it’s almost over, let’s not waste all those sacrifices.”
UP needed to weather Adamson’s late flurry to punch its ticket to the Finals. The Soaring Falcons made a huge offensive stand in the eighth inning, cutting UP’s advantage to one at 4-5 as they capitalized on the latter’s errors and its solid hitting in this frame.
Shortstop John Matanguihan opened the frame with a huge triple to deep left-center before scoring on a catching error by UP centerfielder Darren Mayo, setting up another run for catcher Steven Manaig. This forced coach Dizer to bring on designated hitter Kobe Torres to the mound in lieu of starting pitcher Allen Mercado, even as Adamson left-fielder Kean Matanguihan pegged the final count.
After a scoreless stint on offense in the eighth inning, Torres and the rest of the Fighting Maroons turned back to defense, taking the last three outs needed to end the game. The rookie pitcher struck Adamson centerfielder Castillo out for the first out before the infield went to work with shortstop Nano Asuncion, Torres, and first baseman VJ Mangahas conniving to take out John Matanguihan and Manaig.
Torres limited Adamson to that lone run off that base hit from first baseman Pelingo but eventually took down five batters, with two coming from his assists and that strikeout on Castillo. Senior Mercado was solid to open the day for the Fighting Maroons, allowing just one run on four hits in the seven innings he pitched before that Falcons run happened.
UP started it off on offense, scoring four runs in the very first inning of the game. A sacrifice fly to the left field from catcher Mark Liwanagan opened the scoring with left-fielder Kiel Agojo’s run, before Torres and the captain and third baseman Mark Tuballas added to the tally. Mayo then sent his captain home for the early 4-0 lead.
Tuballas paced the UP offense with a perfect three-on-three, including that triple and one run-batted-in. Mayo was also unscathed on two hits on two at-bats while driving in two sacrifice hits.
The defeat spoiled John Matanguihan’s two hits on five at-bats for the Soaring Falcons, who slipped to 5-3 and are in a must-win situation against University of Santo Tomas on Saturday to keep their Finals hopes alive.
De La Salle University, who will take on also-ran Ateneo de Manila University later in the day, holds a half-game lead over Adamson.
Dan Rommel Bacalla stood his ground and limited UP to one run in the seven and two-thirds innings he pitched, taking over the mound from captain Andrei Medrana.
The Line:
Game 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
AdU 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 7 5
UP 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 5 8 7
