Baseball team advances to AG final with win over China
Final against Chinese Taipei on Sunday looking for fourth straight tournament title
“We got the big game.”
The South Korean baseball team has reached the Asian Games final. All that remains is a final against
Chinese Taipei to win their fourth straight title.
The South Korean baseball team, led by Ryu Jung-il, defeated China 8-1 in the second game of the
Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games Super Round on Saturday at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports
Center in Zhejiang, China.
With both games of the Super Round, South Korea advanced to the final with a 2-1 record, including the
one loss they suffered in the group stage.
Won Tae-in (Samsung Lions)
Pitched six innings of three-hit, six-strikeout ball to earn the win.
The bats came alive early on and took the pressure off Won. Kim Joo-won (NC Dinos) went 2-for-4 with
two RBIs, including a leadoff double in the second inning, while Kang Baek-ho (KT Wiz) erased his slump
with a 4-for-3 performance, including a home run, and two RBIs.
After the game, coach Ryu Jung-il said, “We got an important game. Won Tae-in pitched well until the
sixth inning, and catcher Kim Hyung-jun (NC) was also very good. At the plate, Kim Joo-won’s two-run
shot in the first inning was good. Most importantly, it was encouraging to see Kang Baek-ho come back to life.”
The Korean bats have struggled to capitalize on their chances in the tournament, but they were much
better today, scoring consecutive runs in the second through fourth innings. In total, the team scored eight runs on 16 hits.
“Tomorrow is the last game, and I hope the bats will continue to hit well tomorrow,” Ryu said.
South Korea’s final opponent in the tournament will be Chinese Taipei. South Korea and Chinese Taipei
will play for the crown at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
South Korea lost 0-4 to Chinese Taipei in the group stage on Feb. 2. The team was pinned and dragged by Taiwanese starter Lin Yumin.
Lin will most likely pitch the final game on Sunday. The key will be to figure out how to deal with him again.
Liu said,
“Tomorrow, I think they will have the same left-handed pitcher (Lin Yumin) from the preliminaries. I’ve
faced her once before, so I’ll try to focus on that.”
Kwak Bin, who has been touted as the team’s ace, did not take the mound today due to gallbladder
symptoms. “We were planning to use Kwak-bin as the pitcher after Won Tae-in today, but we didn’t score
enough runs in the early innings,” Ryu said, adding, “Kwak-bin will be used tomorrow.”
From Guangzhou 2010 to Jakarta-Palembang 2018, Korea has always finished on top. This time, the goal is the top spot on the podium.
“It’s hard to come here, and we will prepare well so that we don’t get beaten (by Chinese Taipei) twice,”
Ryu said of his team’s intentions for the final. 스포츠토토링크
