Laurel blast moves Ateneo closer to 1st UAAP baseball crown

Matt Laurel's three-run homerun in the first inning powered Ateneo to an 11-4 rout of National University in the opener of their best-of-three UAAP baseball finals series Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

That three-run blast, plus another three-run eighth inning and the Blue Eagles' steady pitching moved the Katipunan-based squad of clinching their first UAAP baseball crown. Game Two is at 9 a.m. on Sunday (February 26). "Adrianne Bernardo's pitching was superb and our hitting was wow! Hope we can take this momentum in Game Two," said Ateneo coach Emer Barandoc. "Except for the catching error, we played okay today. We did not panicked." Bernardo had three strikeouts and reliever Kevin Ramos, who struck out Herxel Fortunato to end the NU comeback, fanned two in the victory. Charles Catangui, Dio Remollo and Paco Tantuico joined in the fray as the Blue Eagles enjoyed a commanding 7-0 edge in the top of the eighth. Catangui and Remollo each had two RBI (runs batted in) doubles while Tantuico an RBI single in that stretch. The Bulldogs, who are hoping to clinch their first baseball crown after winning back-to-back titles in 1965 and1966 seasons, tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the eighth on a Pelos Remollo catching error. NU scored all of its four runs in the eighth, highlighted by Aprix Santos's RBI single. Tantuico's RBI double and Remollo's RBI single gave Ateneo a 10-4 breathing room in the top of the ninth. MJ Gante was tagged with the loss despite striking out five Ateneo batters. NU lost ace pitcher Aries Uruga due to a knee injury. — JVP, GMA News