Gesmundo’s big shot hands La Salle UAAP baseball marbles
Credit to Author: EDDIE G. ALINEA| Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2019 16:25:45 +0000
In the 1994 winner-take-all UAAP baseball finale between Adamson University and University of Santo Tomas, Falcons catcher Eric Gesmundo sacked a two-run homerun in the ninth and last inning to hand then coach Filomeno “Boy ” Codiñera’ charges a 7-6 come-from-behind victory and the crown.
Twenty-five years later on Friday, the same scenario happened in the same historic, eight-decade-old Rizal Memorial ballpark with Gesmundo’s son Francisco “Kiko” Gesmundo as principal actor.
The young Gesmundo belted out, too, a two-run base-clearing hit in the final frame that gifted La Salle an 11-9 triumph and the Green Archers their fifth UAAP gonfalon.
Kiko swung at losing pitcher Paolo Macasaet’s two-out fastball delivery sending the spheroid soaring over the 350-feet left- field fence, ending the four-hour battle of skills and wit that had the some 2,000 spectators, delirious throughout the contest.
The crowd, mostly students of the two schools. might be a far cry from the filled-to-the rafters arenas of the teams’ basketball rivalry, but the largest just the same, in the tournament this season.
All of the their teammates met rightfielder Diego Lozano, who boarded earlier on base-on-balls and crossed the plate first, and Gesmundo home. After stepping on home plate, Gesmundo threw himself to his teammates’ waiting arms in celebration of their second title win since 2016.
It came, too, as the completion of the celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Vito Cruz grounds that was built in 1934 on the occasion of the country’s hosting of the 10th Far Eastern Games and started by the Adamson Lady Falcons for winning the varsity league’s softball plum earlier in the week.
Asked later if his heroics was designed, the 21-year-old multi-talented slugger, who can play all positions, retorted: “Not really, Sir, ang nasa isip ko lang huwag sana akong ma-last out.”
“Two outs situation na at kapag na-out ako, tapos na inning at papalo na uli sila (Ateneo) and many things can still happen, like baka manalo pa sila,” he said.
“Zero-ball, two-strikes the count, kaya I really had to swing kahit na ano dumating. Ang ganda ng ibinigay and ‘twas good I commented,” Gesmundo, who started for the first time in the championship series and emerged as well the winning hurler, recalled.
“It was coach (Joseph ) Orillana’s decision for me to start. Na-surprise nga ako. Siguro to surprise the enemy, kasi nga hindi nila ako nakitang mag-pitch the entire series,” Gesmundo, who’d been playing at short most of the time in the tournament, tried to reason out.
It turned out, indeed a brilliant tactical move on coacn Orillana, as brilliant as when he relieved Gesmundo two-third of the eighth in favor of Alvin Herrera, who retired in 1-2-3 order the Eagles at the bottom of the ninth.
The Archers, actually, looked on the way to an easy win, peppering Ateneo’s Rogelio “Migs” four runs out of four connections in the opening four frames for what looked like a commanding 6-to-one start.
The Eagles, slowly, but surely clawed back with two markers each in the fifth and sixth only to be met with three runs by the Archers in the eighth.
A four runs salvo by the Eagles in their side of the eighth, tied the count, nine-all, for the first time raising hopes the momentum had shifted in Ateneo’s favor.
Gesmundo doused cold water on those hopes, though, with his round-tripper.
The post Gesmundo’s big shot hands La Salle UAAP baseball marbles appeared first on The Manila Times Online.