Ateneo sweeps La Salle to win second straight UAAP baseball title

MANILA, Philippines – Freshman pitcher Miguel Dumlao played like a seasoned veteran on Tuesday, February 18 to power Ateneo De Manila University to an impressive 8-3 win over De La Salle University, as the Blue Eagles’ won their second straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines baseball title at Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. 

Playing like a man possessed at the historic stadium, Dumlao fired six shoutout innings while the Green Archers could not find any solution to Ateneo’s scoring barrage, sealing the series with a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. 

“The players’ championship experience was all over there and they were concentrating on the match all day,” said Ateneo baseball mentor Randy Dizer, who praised this year’s Most Valuable Player winner Andy Tan and Rookie of the Year awardee Dumlao for a job well done. 

The Blue Eagles fielded the ball well and only committed two errors in Game 2. 

Tan, who provided the spark in Ateneo’s 10-8 win in Game One following 10-inning performance, said they expected the Green Archers to come back strong.

“It was a great extra collective effort from the team,” said Tan, who also took home the Best Pitcher award.

It was a disastrous day for the De La Salle Green Archers who trailed as many as 7-0 after Ateneo’s Kevin Ramos, Pelos Remollo, Ryon Tionloc and Adrian Bernardo delivered RBIs. Matt Laurel had two scored on two consecutive passed balls for Ateneo’s 7-0 lead.    

Carlos Munoz stopped the bleeding for La Salle with a solo home run in the sixth but it was a mere drop in a bucket. 

“Our hard work in defense had paid off,” added Dizer. “I can’t ask anything more. I’m happy we did it again.” 

Ateneo’s Matt Laurel earned the Best Slugger (.839), most home runs with four and most stolen bases with five during the awardings.  

La Salle’s Munoz was awarded Best Hitter (.488) and University of the Philippines’ Andrei Herrera took the Most RBIs with 14. – Rappler.com