NU ends 12-year baseball Final Four wait

c/o UAAP

The drought is over for National University.

The Bulldogs emphatically ended a twelve-year drought with a 10-0 shutout against the University of Santo Tomas on Sunday at the UAAP Season 86 Baseball Tournament.

Starter Amiel de Guzman unleashed a three-hit shutout in a complete game effort, allowing hits to Justine Rosales in the opening inning, John Raymond Vargas in the sixth, and Mark Joseph Cabase in the eighth.

A five-run fourth inning broke the game open for the Bulldogs, highlighted by a combination of four hits, including a Nigel Paule triple to right-center, as well as Golden Sox errors.

Additional runs in the fifth and eighth innings provided the ninth and tenth runs for the Bustillos-based side, which invokes the mercy-rule.

The win moves NU into a tie with La Salle atop the league at 6-3, while UST drops back under .500 at 4-5 with their third straight defeat. It is the first time that they have returned to the postseason since Season 74, when they won the championship. It also happened to be the last season the UAAP had a Final Four postseason format.

Head coach Romar Landicho shares afterwards, "Pasalamat rin ako sa boys, sa mga coaches ko, at sa management na talagang inattain namin magkaroon ng goal, which is pumasok muna sa Final Four; at nakuha naman namin."

NU will conclude its elimination round against Adamson at 8am, while UST faces La Salle at 3pm.

The Lines:

NU   2 1 0 5 1 0 0 1 x - 10 8 0

UST 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 0 3 6