THE UST Golden Sox fell short of a Final Four berth after the UP Fighting Maroons escaped with an 8–7 victory in their UAAP Season 88 baseball tournament playoff for the last semifinal slot on Wednesday, April 8, at Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
With the loss, the Golden Sox dropped to fifth place, down from bronze last year.
UST erased an early three-run deficit with an offensive rally, plating two runs each in the fifth and seventh innings.
Jesus Cabigao and Cedrick Marquez sparked the rally in the fifth, while a costly walk by UP starter Ram Matanguihan in the seventh allowed the Golden Sox to tie the game at 6-all.
But the Fighting Maroons answered back as team captain Nano Asuncion came through in the seventh inning, ripping a go-ahead double to left-center to drive in pinch-runner Marvin Nalzaro and restore UP’s lead, 7-6.
The Diliman-based squad padded the advantage in the eighth, capitalizing on consecutive hits from Razhley Santos and Daniel Badrina, with LM Basañes bringing one home off a defensive miscue, 8-6.
The Golden Sox tried to mount a comeback in the ninth but UP’s Badrina limited the damage to a lone RBI single by Tim Caldo before inducing a game-ending flyout from Kevin Liwag, secured by Eman Javier in the outfield to seal the victory for the UP squad, 8-7.
Badrina starred on both ends with two hits, two RBIs, and the clutch save, while Asuncion and Javier added two hits apiece.
For UST, Caldo and Marquez paced the offense with two hits and two RBIs each. F
