League-leading University of Santo Tomas returned to its winning ways, turning back Adamson University, 11-9, in the UAAP Season 86 Baseball tournament on Thursday at the UP Baseball Field.
The Golden Sox made amends for their previous 8-14 defeat against the Soaring Falcons in the first round to move into a provisional solo lead at 4-2, and they needed a huge sixth-inning explosion to secure the win this time.
UST, though, needed to produce a gutsy two-out rally in the said inning to overhaul a slim 2-3 deficit.
“HIndi nakakatuwa ‘eh, kasi pumasok kng dalawang out, pumasok ng lima tapos hindi masyado nag-kokonekta. Error lang ng kalaban, bakit nakakapasok? So, a lot of things to improve, ‘yung mental toughness, ‘yun ang importante,” said head coach Jeff Santiago.
After John Mark Bersales and Timothy Caldo were sent back to the dugout, Steven Dominguez was given first base on four balls. Three more walks and singles from Mark Joseph Cabase and Harry Geronimo capitalized on the Adamson errors to produce seven runs for a 9-3 advantage.
Another base hit, this time from Dominguez, closed the rousing offensive inning for the Golden Sox, scoring Barsales as the batting order went full circle.
Adamson had an immediate response in the very same inning, but the five runs produced were not enough as both defenses went to work until the end of the game.
“Still ‘yung opensa. Opensa kasi tignan mo, nakapasok kami ng walo because of the offense, ‘yung palo pinagtutuunan talaga namin kaso minsan nakokontrol kami ng depensa ng kalaban,” Santiago shared on what is working so far with the Golden Sox.
John Reymond Vargas paced the offense with two hits on five at-bats, scoring twice as well, but it was the pitching of Ivan Llave that steered them in the closing innings.
The 20-year-old pitcher silenced Adamson, limiting them to one run in just two hits in the next three frames, en route to the win.