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La Salle rallies against Ateneo to end 13-year baseball title wait

Ivan Saldajeno
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--The last time La Salle won the UAAP baseball title, Joseph Orillana was the star pitcher.

On Monday, he gave the Green Batters the title again but as the head coach.

La Salle ended a 13-year drought in the said championship with an 11-9 Game 3 win against Ateneo at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Field.

The Green Batters recovered from an eight-run barrage by the Blue Batters and finished the game with six straight points of their own to take the pennant for the first time since 2003.

La Salle actually zoomed ahead early into the decider, taking a 3-0 lead after the first three innings.

But Ateneo, who was gunning for its third straight title, batted six runs in the fourth inning to take the lead, 6-3.

The Blue Batters added one more run in each of the fifth and the sixth periods to go up, 8-3.

But a two-run RBI single by Francisco Hashimoto in the bottom sixth made things interesting as the lead was cut to three, 8-5.

Marco Mallari appeared to have restored some control for Ateneo as he scored an RBI double to stretch the lead to four, 9-5, at the top of the seventh inning.

But La Salle responded with a six-run bottom seventh to take the lead for good.

Boo Barandiaran then came to work, keeping composure despite an all-bases-loaded situation in the top eighth and forcing a strikeout to end the said half-inning before adding two more K's in the top ninth before ending the championship conquest with a forced groundout.

Barandiaran, along with rookie Diego Lozano, were named Finals co-MVP, for their exemplary performance in the pitcher spot.

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