By Jean Malanum
MANILA – University of the Philippines tightened up on its defense to prevail over University of Santo Tomas, 7-2, Wednesday in the UAAP Season 87 baseball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Malate.
With Kobe Torres at the helm, the Fighting Maroons secured the final three outs to claim victory and join Adamson in third place at 2-2.
“Every time we talk to these guys, it’s all about motivation. Like what happened before when we had a big lead, they became too confident that we had already won. That shouldn’t be the team’s mindset. The right approach is to start strong and finish strong; and I saw that from start to finish, they stepped up,” UP head coach Iking Jimenez said.
“I hope this continues —that until the game is over, until the final three outs are recorded, there’s no complacency, no matter how big the lead is,” he added.
UP had 11 hits, including three each from last season’s Rookie of the Year Aaron Nicha and reigning MVP Mercado, and two from Torres.
UST closed the first round at 1-4 record for fifth place, in a tie with Ateneo de Manila University, which bowed to Adamson University, 0-10, in the other game.
“I told them that they should treat every game like a championship game. So, what they did against UP, it’s good that they carried it over here against Ateneo. It also helped that in the first three innings, Ateneo couldn’t score even with runners on base; that’s why in the later innings, they gained even more confidence,” Adamson head coach Lando Binarao said.
Joao Severino scored two hits in four at-bats during the fourth and fifth innings. Ivan Jonson added two hits while John Matanguihan and John Mark Tupig had two hits each.
The Soaring Falcons had a solid defense, anchored by rookie pitcher James Nisnisan of Baguio City.
Binarao noted the team’s offense and defense in what he considered the Soaring Falcons’ best performance in the season.
“It’s a good thing that happened because if they had played like this in our past games, we might not have any losses. So, I hope they bring the same attitude in the next games and into the second round,” he said. (PNA)
