Ateneo de Manila University capitalized on breaks to upend erstwhile co-leader University of Santo Tomas, 10-8, for its third straight win in the second round eliminations of the UAAP Season 86 Baseball tournament on Thursday at the UP Baseball Field.
The win gave the Blue Eagles the provisional solo lead at 5-3, dealing the Golden Sox back-to-back defeats for a 4-4 win-loss record.
UST slipped behind the 4-3 De La Salle University Green Batters and National University Bulldogs, who have games later in the day.
“What’s been working is that these guys are playing as a team. Our rotations are working, even our bench is working, everybody is contributing to the team. We know UST is a very tough team and we know we need to win this game to secure our Final Four slot or even make it safer for us,” said Ateneo head coach Bocc Bernardo on the unbeaten spell so far in the second round.
Teamwork was evident as all but two batters came up with at least one hit, with Enzo Montemayor once more leading the charge for the Blue Eagles with four hits on six at-bats, starting it off in the first and eighth innings for the Katipunan-based side.
Down one at 3-4 heading into the sixth inning, Luis Capati opened a series of hits that was followed by triples from Geof Magsadia and a ground-rule double from Joaquin Casanova that scored two and wrested the lead at 5-3.
With Daniel Fabella at the plate, UST catcher Vargas tried to catch Ethan Mitschiener stealing second base, but instead of getting him out, the second-year Ateneo third baseman was declared safe as Golden Sox second baseman Justine Rosales failed to catch the throw in time.
On the throw, Casanova eventually took advantage of the miscue to get the 6-4 cushion.
The Golden Sox tried to come back, but their offense went silent after a four-run third inning, with Blue Eagles’ pitcher Joshua De Juras limiting them to two hits in the next five innings.
On the other hand, Ateneo pulled away with four more runs in the seventh to ninth innings, capitalizing on the UST pitching change from Harry Geronimo to Jesus Cabigao in the eighth inning.
The España-based side’s implosion on an error and wild pitches off Cabigao eventually surrendered two more runs for Montemayor and the rest of the Ateneo side, leading to six miscues throughout the game for UST.
De Juras finished the game with a solitary earned run in the first eight innings on four hits, fanning seven batters in a no-relief effort.
The Lines:
Ateneo 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 1 – 10 12 4
UST 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 – 8 8 6
