NU clouters halt DLSU win run in UAAP

MANILA, Philippines - National University (NU) snapped De La Salle’s winning streak while Ateneo continued to send a strong message with a shutout of Adamson University in UAAP Season 76 baseball yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

NU utilized a catch-me-if-you-can game plan against the Green Batters, scoring four runs in the first two innings and using it as cushion en route to a 4-2 victory, the third in seven games for the Bulldogs. The loss was the first for the Taft-based batters also in six outings.

The Blue Eagles, on the other hand, registered 12 hits in a 12-0 shutout of the Soaring Falcons, a one-sided triumph highlighted by a top-of-the-fifth 10-run explosion that propelled them to a second-running 5-2 card while dealing their victims a 2-5 record.

In yesterday’s other game, University of Santo Tomas improved to 2-5 win-loss at the expense of University of the Philippines, 13-3. The Fighting Maroons dropped to a 3-4 card in a tie with the Bulldogs.

Jezreel Rosita and Herxel Fortunato went on board on consecutive walks against De La Salle starter Pocholo Dominguez and scored NU’s first two runs on a passed ball and a single by Alfredo Olivarez.

De La Salle showed a semblance of strong resistance when it scored at the top of second inning but the NU scoring machine went to work at the bottom of the same frame for a 4-1 advantage behind Julius Mondragon and Rosita’s RBI singles.

Fernando Felix Imperial scored a consolation run at the top of the ninth against the Bulldogs’ second year pitcher Ronel Peralta, who held down the De La Salle batting line by allowing only five hits (four singles, one double) against 33 batters he faced.