ADAMSON University ended its dry spell in the UAAP Season 86 Baseball tournament, dealing University of Santo Tomas its first loss, 14-8, on Sunday at the UP Baseball Field in Diliman, Quezon City.
The Soaring Falcons bagged its third consecutive win against the Golden Sox starting from last season and a wake-up call in this game was needed to startle the San Marcelino-based side.
The result created two three-way ties: the upper half at 2-1 with De La Salle University, UST, and Ateneo de Manila University, and the lower half at 1-2 with National University, Adamson, and University of the Philippines.
“Yung first two games namin parang wala sila sa concentration, wala sila sa sarili. Kaya sabi ko nga kanina, pangatlong game na ‘to, sana natuto na kayo. Yung mga talo natin noon, matuto dapat tayo sa kung bakit tayo natalo,” long-time Soaring Falcons head coach Lando Binarao said.
With the game tied at seven, Adamson found its rhythm at its turn on offense in the seventh inning to snag the lead for good.
Second baseman Mark Montoya started it off with a huge hit to the left side before catcher Jr Mangilit and center-fielder John Mark Tupig also pinched in singles to put men on the bases for their side.
A series of hits and a couple of free passes given by the UST pitchers eventually led to four runs, capped with a two-RBI single to right-center from first baseman Angelo Pelingo, who was batting despite facing two outs.
From there, the Season 85 bronze medalists never looked back and, for better measure, added seven more runs in the last two frames to close out the come-from-behind victory.
“Kaya kanina, siguro natauhan sila. Tapos ‘yung nangyari nga na nalamangan kami, naka-recover naman sila,” Binarao added.
UST leaned on reigning MVP Justine Rosales to momentarily grab the lead at 5-3 after three innings, as the previously unscathed ensemble scored five in the third after going scoreless in the first two.
The Soaring Falcons then proved equal to the fight as they limited the Golden Sox’s bats to a solitary run in the last three innings with pitcher Dan Rommel Bacalla anchoring the former’s defense.
The 20-year-old product of San Jose City National High School ended with two hits allowed from the last 11 batters he faced, laced with five strikeouts — two of which came in the endgame.
The Lines:
AdU 0 3 0 1 0 0 3 4 3 – 14 14 2
UST 0 0 5 1 0 1 0 0 1 – 8 9 5
