In the final day of eliminations for the UAAP Juniors Baseball tournament, Ateneo manages to sneak into the first finals berth on Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
The Blue Eaglets took care of NU-Nazareth in five innings with a 12-0 victory. The third inning proved to be fatal for the Bullpups, allowing nine runs on eight hits to blow the game wide open.
Matthew San Juan led the charge with a couple of doubles and a single in his three at-bats. Joaquin Mendoza tacked on three RBIs, while Kean Agcaoili and Joaquin Casanova each added a couple of RBIs. Couple that with Zach Urbina allowing just a couple of hits and striking out five and it is enough to send the Bullpups to back-to-back losses.
Ateneo Baseball program director Randy Dizer shares, "Yun yung maganda pag nakakauna ka. Everything's easier for the pitcher."
NU-Nazareth missed the services of Jerico Quilantang, who was sidelined due to chickenpox for the second straight game.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the University of Santo Tomas defeated De La Salle-Zobel, 4-3. The Junior Golden Sox rode on a strong third inning against the Junior Green Batters, as an RBI base hit from Alwyn Pinero tied things up, with a sacrifice fly from Mark Abella and a RBI grounder from Bryan Camarsi allowed UST to take the lead for good.
John Regalado then shut the door on DLSZ's hopes for victory by closing things out on the pitching mound.
The win by both UST and Ateneo, combined by NU-Nazareth's loss, meant that all three schools finish the eliminations at 4-2. However, by virtue of allowing fewer runs in their elimination round meetings, the Blue Eaglets secure the first finals spot.
Dizer shares, "As I said, we are relieved to be in the Finals after all of this but the work is not yet over. We are still the underdogs here against NU and UST. Ang advantage lang namin is we have been playing for the last four years together."
UST head coach Jeffrey Santiago adds, "Overwhelming ang aking saya. Last year fourth-place lang kami. Pinaghirapan namin ito kasi ang lalakas talaga ng kalaban."
The Bullpups and the Junior Golden Sox would then have to play on Tuesday, October 22, to determine who is Ateneo's opponent in the finals.
As for DLSZ, they finished their campaign with an 0-6 record, with seven players set to graduate from their ranks: Martin Amora, Pablo Capati, Jared Limjoco, Christian Altomonte, Teddy Cruz, Peter Nonaillada, and Jap Crisostomo.
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