NATIONAL University secured a twice-to-beat advantage in the UAAP Season 86 Baseball Final Four with a 12-6 victory over Adamson University on Thursday at the UP Baseball Field.
The Bulldogs, who just clinched their first postseason appearance since the Season 74 championship campaign on March 24, moved to the provisional solo lead at 7-3, with De La Salle University Green Batters, a game behind at 6-3, still having a game later in the day.
It all boiled down to a huge seventh-inning binge from the Bustillos-based side, capitalizing on the Soaring Falcons’ errors on defense and pitching.
Trailing by one at 5-6 in the said inning, Amiel De Guzman, who came on to pitch in the fifth inning in place of starter MJ Carolino, stepped into the plate to bat and plucked a huge hit to the right side of the field to start it off.
Kevin Maulit then sent one deeper into the same area to lay the foundation for a two-out rally that eventually forced Adamson’s third pitcher, Francis Mariano, to commit wild pitches and the defense to second-guess their fielding, resulting in six runs that set the final score.
“Importante ‘to sa ‘min na nakuha namin ‘tong Final Four after 12 years; credits na rin sa mga boys sa performance nila so far. And buti na lang nakuha namin ‘yung twice-to-beat para may advantage kami kahit papaano sa kung sino man ang makalaban namin,” said NU head coach Romar Landicho.
The Bulldogs committed one more miscue than the Soaring Falcons, but the former limited such to two in the last four innings, resulting in just two additional runs for the latter.
Three NU batters recorded three hits in the game, but it was two of those three hits coming from Kevin Maulit that made the difference for the Bulldogs.
De Guzman limited Adamson to two unearned runs in the seventh inning, picking up where Carolino left off on the mound for the Bulldogs.
The Soaring Falcons, last season’s third placers, finished the season at 3-7, ended the season at last place.
The Lines:
AdU 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 – 6 11 5
NU 1 0 0 1 0 3 6 0 x – 12 15 6
