Blue Batters wrap up year with lone win
THE ATENEO Blue Batters had an early exit from the UAAP Season 70 Baseball Championships as they lost all their games in the second round, en route to a 1-9 win-loss finish.
Adamson broke the Blue Batters' hearts as Adamson sailed through an 8-3 win in the Blue Batters' final game of the second round. February 10 saw the Loyola IX crushed by archrivals De La Salle University, 12-7. National University halted Ateneo in extended innings last February 7 with a 14-9 win.
University of Santo Tomas ace and National Team member Jon Jon Robles struck out 11 batters in a no-relief stint and UST won against Ateneo, 15-7. University of the Philippines dismantled the pitching tandem of Alex Tolome (III AB IS) and Carlo Banzon (III BS ES) as they toppled Ateneo last January 31, 11-2.
Coach Randy Dizer identified two main problems the team faced this season: fielding errors and lack of pitchers.
"No excuses, but [as I said] even before the start of the season we were really undermanned. We don't have legitimate pitchers," Dizer said, also noting that, on the average, Ateneo's errors led to their downfall.
Center fielder Carlo Olivares (III BS Bio) echoed the same. "We really lost Justin [Zialcita] who handled our pitching chores," he said. He also pointed out that the line-up was stretched owing to the lack of go-to pitchers.
Ateneo committed nine fielding errrors against UP, and against UST they had five. Six errors did it for the Blue Batters against La Salle. Against Adamson, the Loyola IX limited their errors to three.