UAAP Baseball Finals: Ateneo draws first blood against NU, 6-2 (post-game thoughts)
I intend to write a piece about why the Ateneo de Manila University’s athletic program is garnering so much success thus far in the 75th season of the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). After I conduct a bunch of interviews, I will come out with some kind of treatise on why their men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, men’s football and baseball teams are now supreme forces in the collegiate sports scene in the country. For now, let’s stick to one of my known passions: action on the diamond.
Moments after the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses scored a stunning come-from-behind win over the Lady Bulldogs of the National University (NU) to force a sudden death match this Sunday (February 17) in the softball playoffs for the right to face undefeated Adamson University in the finals, a rematch of last year’s baseball championship capped a very busy day at the historic Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Manila.
NU, the defending champion and four-time finalist locked horns with last year’s runners-up and this season’s top seeds Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) with the Bulldogs looking to continue building the foundations of a dynasty, while the Blue Eagles were looking to create a new tradition in their school’s storied sports saga. I did the television broadcast chores for ABS-CBN Sports (as I did last season) but this time I was paired with Kirk Long; a former student of mine in a broadcasting workshop, but more importantly a former Blue Eagle centerfielder. Long and Ateneo stalwarts Charles Catanggui and the hulking Paco Tantuico were among the players the Blue Eagles no longer have in their squad and they were facing an almost full roster of the best NU sluggers in the school’s history—which includes the reigning MVP and star pitcher Aries Oruga.
ALSO READ: Fourteen ideas for a more awesome UFL, part 1
Noticeably missing from the Bulldogs’ line-up was Ram Casey Alipio; a national team member and NU’s team captain. Alipio’s defense was key to the Bulldogs’ success a season ago, but with mainstays Oruga, Mark Lumbres, Herxel Fortunato, Aprix Santos and the Gante brothers (Marcial and MJ), NU looked primed to give Ateneo a more than decent struggle; the only team they had not defeated this year.
Ateneo coach Emer Barandoc made an early gamble starting with freshman pitcher Miguel Salud, who despite his brilliant credentials as the inaugural MVP of last season’s junior’s competition was facing a well-rested and battle-tested Oruga, who did not even pitch during NU’s 12-7 thrashing of UST in the sudden-death playoff for the last finals berth. Both pitchers started out a bit shaky, but the Bulldogs veteran ace found early control and command of his pitches as Ateneo’s booming guns of national team campaigner Matt Laurel and clean-up hitter Bok-Bok Bernardo were silenced thru the initial stages. Santos and Fortunato later conspired to give NU runs in the 3rd and 4th innings as the Blue Eagles were limited to just three hits through five scoreless innings.
The major factor working for NU early was the unpredictable curveball of Oruga; a weapon he brandished for the entire five innings where Ateneo was kept guessing. There was even a spell during the third inning where Oruga threw seven consecutive deuces en route to three straight Blue Eagle strikeouts.
But as the fifth inning stretch concluded, the Blue Eagles found their bearing—and the correct reads on the Oruga curveballs—at just the right time. Laurel and freshman first baseman Ryon Tiongloc combined for a cycle—Laurel had a single, followed by an RBI ground-rule double and a solo homerun, while Tionloc captured a 2-RBI triple and later a stand-up double to lead the Blue Eagles charge back to contention and eventually hang on to secure the Game 1 victory, 6-2. Salud pitched a complete game in the win. Game 2 of this best-of-three affair is on Tuesday (February 19).
It wasn’t really the win by the Blue Eagles that astounded me as they truly worked hard to decipher the Oruga pitches and NU—with their coach Saki Bacarisas—just couldn’t adjust in time. It was what Ateneo has under the hood that made me look to five years down the line and how this group of young gentlemen could be regular contenders in UAAP baseball for a very, very long time.
ALSO READ: The Philippine Sports Museum: a hidden treasure
Ateneo is parading seven freshmen this season and some of them made major contributions in the triumph. Let’s start off with Salud, the former De La Salle Zobel stand-out who kept in pace with the reigning MVP Oruga. Many will say the credit should equally be shared with Blue Eagles’ catcher Dio Remollo whose aggressiveness and headiness seemed to have rubbed off on his freshman catch-mate. But Salud brought a different swagger to the game and although it appeared that Remollo boosted his confidence by calling for the right pitches at the right time in the end game, Salud revved it up two notches when NU was already on the ropes. He allowed ZERO runs through the final five innings. Tionloc, a product of the Ateneo juniors program not only provided the big hits down the stretch, but also showed unabashed emotion after every positive output he had brought to the game, be it his triple, his double or stretching for errant throws from his infield while covering first base, Tionloc is a more-than-able evolution of the graduated Tantuico. Leandro Banzon, who took over Kirk Long’s outfield post, provided plenty of defensive gems while pinch-runner Rapho Balagtas stole two key bases and was never caught.
Did I already mention that home-run king Laurel is only in his sophomore year, and that only fifth year skipper Gab Bagamasbad is the only one leaving the team after this season?
Barandoc and baseball program head Randy Dizer have a lot of talent to generate a great future for Ateneo baseball. If the Blue Eagles capture Game 2 on Tuesday, it will be their first EVER baseball title since joining the UAAP in 1978. Ateneo has no baseball tradition. With their second straight finals appearance, it certainly looks like they are in the formative stages of creating one.
NU will bounce back (they won the championship last year after losing Game 1), but the loss of Alipio (due to a hamstring injury) hampers the Bulldogs defenses. I’ve been told that Oruga may not start as the pitcher on Tuesday. That might be true or it might be a ploy to throw Ateneo off. NU’s athletic director Junel Baculi had just witnessed two of his squads go down in defeat on the same day, on the same turf, against different opponents. Knowing Baculi, he will take all the necessary measures to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.
ALSO READ: A place where MMA meets Pole Dancing
Ateneo will have their hands full against NU and will have to play almost flawless baseball to keep the Bulldogs winless against them this season.
One famous sports figure once said: “The most important win is the next one.”
That phrase carries so much truth in the ongoing UAAP baseball finals. See you at Rizal on Tuesday.
Gametime is a twelve high noon. Absolutely fitting.
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter: @NoelZarate
