Slowly but surely, the young cubs are turning into tigers.
Coming off back-to-back wins, the University of Santo Tomas Golden Sox scored their biggest win of the season so far, turning back the De La Salle University Green Batters in 10 innings, 10-3, Wednesday afternoon at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
“Hindi naman ako nage-expect sa team na ito,” said UST head coach Jeffrey Santiago ,as they are now tied at the top of the UAAP Season 81 Baseball standings with Ateneo and Adamson at 3-1. “Basta magkakumpyansa sila, kaya naming lumaban.”
And they needed La Salle pitcher Boo Barandiaran to tire out in order to survive last season’s silver medalists.
Heading into the 10th inning, Barandiaran had pitched the entire game. Already worn out by the marathon match, the UAAP Season 78 Finals MVP gave up back-to-back hits (a single and a double) and a walk to load up the bases. Barandiaran could not locate the strike zone afterward, walking Mark Leronilla for the go-ahead run.
La Salle head coach Joseph Orillana retired Barandiaran, replacing him with UAAP Season 80 Athlete of the Year Kiko Gesmundo.
Gesmundo – who had yet to warm up properly – could not hold down the Golden Sox, as the lead then ballooned to seven runs.
The Green Batters could not perform the same feat against Ron dela Cruz, who pinned down the remaining La Sallians at-bat to chalk up UST’s third straight win.
“Actually, ang La Salle, malakas ang palo yan. Nanibago lang siguro sila sa starting pitcher ko,” thought Santiago.
“Though maraming play na hindi na-execute, siguro napagod na yung kanilang starting pitcher nung dulo. Itong mga rookie ko matibay, sila ang nag-deliver. Pag ganun, may pag-asa pa kaming manalo,” he added.
Leronilla had three RBIs in the game, including a two-RBI single in the fifth inning that put UST up 3-0 early. Rookies Ivan Llave, Jan Santiago, and Adrian Aguilar also kept up with the veteran-laden La Salle squad.
Though Diego Lozano and Iggy Escano were able to pick up multiple hits in the contest, the rest of La Salle could not follow it up, leading to nine runners stranded.
UST will have one more game to close out the round, a showdown with the UP Fighting Maroons on Sunday. And Santiago will make sure that his players won’t let their guards down against the listless squad.
“Killer instinct, that’s what I always remind them. Hanggang maari, lamangan namin ng lamangan. Killer instinct,” he declared.
On the other hand, La Salle have a tough task to close out their first round campaign. They face the defending champions Adamson University Soaring Falcons on the same day at 11:00am.
Linescores:
UST – 001 002 000 7 – 10 4 3
DLSU – 000 020 100 0 – 3 7 1
