Ateneo clouters make first-ever baseball finals

MANILA, Philippines - Unleashing sizzling bats, second-ranked Ateneo de Manila shellacked No. 3 La Salle in a rain-hit Final Four encounter, 13-4, to advance to the UAAP baseball finals for the first time ever yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

The Eagles, who used to wallow at the bottom but have made a tremendous turnaround in Season 74, peppered DLSU pitchers Seb Uichico and Carlos Muñoz with a combined 14 hits throughout the game that was called off at the eighth inning after heavy rains rendered the field unplayable.

“Sobrang ganda ng hitting ng mga bata and also the pitching of Adrian Bernardo (The boys’ hitting was excellent in this game and Adrian Bernardo also pitched well),” said AdMU coach Emerson Barandoc.

The Eagles await the winner of the other F4 pairing, which went into a knockout stage after No. 4 Santo Tomas nipped top seed National U in 10 innings, 4-2.

Ateneo immediately made its hot bats felt right in the opening frame, tagging Uichico with four early hits en route to a 4-0 lead, and then Bernardo blasted a two-run single against Muñoz to extend their lead to 6-0.

DLSU got two runners in off two Ateneo errors in the third inning to close in at 2-6. But the Eagles countered with five runs off six hits on their offensive end, highlighted by Charles Catangui’s three-run triple, to break away, 11-2.

“Gusto talaga naming ilabas agad ang hitting sa simula pa lang (We wanted to turn the heat at bat right from the start). Our plan was to win each inning,” said Barandoc.

Ateneo’s hot hitting was capped by a two-run homer to left field by catcher Dio Remollo, which gave them a 13-4 tear in the sixth.

Bernardo led Ateneo’s defensive efforts, yielding four hits and four runs in five innings.

In the first game, the Tigers gained from Arcel Aligno’s two-run single in the 10th to force a rubber match against the Bulldogs and keep their title retention bid alive.

UST and NU meet again on Sunday to dispute the right to face AdMU in the best-of-three finale.