Defending UAAP Seniors Baseball Champions Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles needed just seven innings to dispose of their opening day assignment University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 13-3, Sunday afternoon at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
| TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UP (0-1) | 3 | X | X | 3 | 6 | 4 | ||||||
| ADMU (1-0) | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | X | 13 | 15 | 1 |
“Well, first of all, we really showcased our offense. Paulo held his ground, showing that he is still a dominant pitcher. He’ll be very important for us. The good thing about today was that our defense was able to defend our fort,” remarked Ateneo assistant coach Bocc Bernardo.
“Wala masyadong lapses. The game plan is to hold the opponent to less than five runs because we know we can score more than that,” added Bernardo, a former catcher for the Blue Eagles.
Right from the get-go, the Blue Eagles were on point with their hitting, connecting on five hits for four runs in the first inning. An RBI triple by third batter Javi Macasaet opened up the scoring that brought home Marco Mallari. The huge opening inning rally was capped by a 2-RBI single by sophomore Dan Laurel.
The defending champions did not let up in the second inning, punching in six more runs that was highlighted by a three-run homer by returning student-athlete Enzo Orbeta.
Throughout the entire romping, Seattle-born Marquis Alindogan had a field day, going a perfect 5-for-5 at-bat for two runs and an RBI.
“He was brought up as the fifth batter because we know he can really hit. We need to get him more at-bats,” said Bernardo as he used to be Ateneo’s last batter a season ago. “He’s very confident hitter right now. He’s a very good back up for Ryan [Hilario] because he is very disciplined.”
Lauel went 2-for-3 tallying three RBIs and a run while Javi Macasaet went 2-for-4 for three runs while stealing a base.
With the game well in hand by the third inning, Paulo Macasaet sat out the rest of the way as Luis Estacio was made reliever before Nacho Lozano closed out the game. Last season’s Finals Most Valuable Player, struck five batters out.
“Our pitcher right now was Luis Estacio. We believe that he can be our next Paulo in the future. Hopefully, he can be able to gain his confidence,” Bernardo furthered.
Estacio gave up three runs in the fourth inning as James Yang was able to bring in two runs to cut the lead but Alindogan’s fifth hit brought home Mallari in the seventh inning gave Ateneo the 10-run needed to call for stoppage.
Tyrone Malana struggled in his first start on the mound for the 16-man UP team.
Ateneo will next face NU on Wednesday, February 7 at 7:00am while UP takes on Adamson in the next game.
