UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas unleashed a stunning eighth-inning comeback to shock previously undefeated National University, 12–10, in the UAAP Season 87 Baseball Tournament, Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
Trailing 10–4 entering the bottom of the eighth, the Golden Sox erupted for eight runs—capitalizing on a mix of NU errors and clutch hits—to seize control of the game and ultimately deal the Bulldogs their first loss of the season.
John Carlo Beronilla ignited the rally with a two-RBI single that brought home Miguel Geronimo and Timothy Caldo, trimming the deficit to just four. NU’s grip on the game began to slip further as national team standout JR Vargas drilled a double to left field to inch closer.
From there, it was all UST.
Caldo, who came off the bench for Alwyn Piñero, gave UST its first taste of the lead at 12–10 with a two RBI single, scoring UST reliever Jesus Cabigao and Justine Rosales — an advantage that turned out to be the winning edge.
UST then clamped down defensively to preserve the win. Rosales, Season 85 MVP, delivered two crucial defensive gems to seal the upset—first recovering from a bobble to throw out NU slugger Herald Tenorio at first, then executing a picture-perfect tag on Gio Gorpido at third base.
“Our hard work paid off pero ‘yung hard prayer talaga kaya kami sinuwerte. Nung last inning kasi nakapasok kami ng tatlo, kaya never give up until the last bat, until the last batter is out. ‘Yan talaga ang prinsipyo na aming sinusunod,” said UST head coach Jeff Santiago.
(“Our hard work paid off, but it was really the power of prayer that brought us luck. In the last inning, we scored three runs, so we live by the principle of never giving up until the last bat, until the last batter is out.”)
The victory breathed new life into the Golden Sox’s Final Four campaign, improving their record to 3–4 and lifting them to solo fourth place in the standings.
UST now sits just behind Adamson University (3–3), which was playing De La Salle University at press time, and ahead of University of the Philippines (2–4), which was scheduled to face Ateneo de Manila University later in the day.
Defending champion NU, which came into the game undefeated, fell to 6–1 but remains firmly on top of the leaderboard.
