UNIVERSITY of the Philippines overhauled an early deficit to turn back Adamson University, 13-9, for its first win in the UAAP Season 86 Baseball tournament on Thursday at the UP Baseball Field in Diliman, Quezon City.
The Fighting Maroons, last season’s runners-up, found themselves down by a huge 0-6 hole as the Soaring Falcons peppered rookie pitcher Daniel Badrina with five hits in the very first inning.
UP then got their hitting stride in the fourth inning, but broke through with the lead in the seventh inning.
With the bases loaded for the home side, Adamson starting pitcher Kenneth Delos Santos hit LM Basañes on the pitch to advance Darren Mayo for the go-ahead run before two passed balls added two more runs for the 10-8 turnaround.
UP then buckled down on defense in the next innings and limited Adamson to three runs in the next eighth to see them even things up at 1-1 this season.
“It was too early. Alam ko namang aabot kami pero na-late lang kaunti. Pero naging successful naman sa dulo,” said the home squad’s head coach Anthony Dizer.
“Yan pa rin ‘yung problema namin nung last year pa lang, lagi kaming nauunahan. Ginamit ko na nga yung number 2 pitcher ko, pero hindi ko naman mahugot agad nung first inning. At least, nakapag-deliver naman,” Dizer added on his side’s performance after losing 8-15 against University of Santo Tomas last Sunday.
Badrina eventually found his groove in the next three and two-thirds innings he pitched, allowing just two more runs on two hits before ceding the mound to Darren Mayo.
National team pitcher Kobe Torres then took over and closed the game for UP with three strikeouts, two of which came in the final inning.
Captain and RP Blu Boys upstart Ian Mercado started it off for the Fighting Maroons, carving in two hits — both triples, but it was senior catcher Mark Liwanagan’s triple to the right field that turned the game around as it ignited the seven-run sixth inning that nabbed the lead for good.
Kean Matanguihan ended with three hits on three at-bats to pace Adamson’s offense, but the opponents capitalized on the pitching change from Kenneth Delos Santos to Dan Rommel Bacalla.
The second-year pitcher Bacalla allowed two more hits and three more runs after Delos Santos was retired with the score at 8-6.
The Soaring Falcons, who are coming from a bronze medal finish last season, dropped to 0-2 after bowing to National University on opening day, 16-3.
The Line:
UP 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 1 1 – 13 9 3
AdU 6 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 – 9 10 7
