MANILA, Philippines – Joseph Orillana has come full circle after leading De La Salle University to a couple of baseball championships in the UAAP 13 years ago, as he steered the Green Batters to the UAAP Season 78 crown on Monday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

La Salle hammered an 11-9 victory over arch-rivals Ateneo de Manila University in a nip-and-tuck Game 2 of the Season 78 baseball championship series, completing a two-game sweep and ending the Blue Eagles' three-year reign.

Pitchers Boo Barandiaran and Diego Lozano, who neutralized Ateneo's hitting in crucial stretches, were named co-Finals MVPs.

"Fulfilled na ako sa career ko, as a player and as a coach," said Orillana, a former national team standout who was La Salle's ace pitcher in their 2002 and 2003 title runs. "Eto na siguro ang simula."

After yielding a run in each of the first three innings, Raphael Balagtas' triple got two RBIs, giving Ateneo a 4-3 advantage in the fourth inning.

Rallying from a 5-9 deficit, Kiko Gesmundo's single brought two remaining Green Batters on base to tie the game at nine at the bottom of the seventh inning.

Paolo Salud then got the job done with a two-RBI single for an 11-9 lead that La Salle would not relinquish.

"It was anybody's ball game," Orillana said. "Huwag lang silang gi-give up, dahil alam kong babalik sila. Maniwala lang sila na kaya nila, dahil alam kong taon nila ito."

Ateneo defeated La Salle in the finals in the past two seasons, but their bid for a four-peat was denied by the Taft-based squad this time around.

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