South Korea’s baseball team swept underdog Thailand to advance to the Super Round as group runner-up.
South Korea defeated Thailand 17-0 in five innings in the final Group B game of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Wednesday at the Baseball and Softball Sports Center 2 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China.
With a 2-1 record, South Korea clinched second place in Group B behind Chinese Taipei (3 wins). South Korea defeated Hong Kong 10-0 (8 cold games) and lost to Chinese Taipei 0-4. Chinese Taipei dropped a 15-0, six-inning cold game in Hong Kong at the same time.
South Korea will have one day off before playing the second-place team from Group A in the first game of the Super Round at 1:00 p.m. KST on May 5, followed by the second game against the first-place team from Group A at 1:00 p.m. KST on May 6.
The baseball team, led by Ryu Jung-il, enters the Super Round with a “one loss” record from the group stage against Chinese Taipei, with the top two teams in the four-team Super Round advancing to the final.
Korea pounded the Thai mound in the first inning. Kim Hye-sung (Kiwoom Heroes) led off the inning with a triple to right-center off starter Poomwut Utikorn, and Choi Ji-hoon (SSG Landers) followed with a grounder to second.
Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants) then walked and Noh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles) singled to put runners on first and third before Moon Bo-kyung (LG Twins) grounded into an infield single.
In the second inning, Kim Dong-heon (Kiwoom) walked and Kim Hye-sung singled to put runners on second and third before Choi Ji-hoon blasted a three-run home run over the right field wall to extend the lead to 5-0. The next batter, Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants), hit a back-to-back home run to left field.
South Korea added another run in the third with a long ball. Kim Joo-won (NC Dinos) led off the inning with a solo home run to right field.
The 7-0 lead was extended to 9-0 in the fourth when Kim Hye-sung singled, Choi Ji-hoon was hit by a pitch, and Yoon Dong-hee blasted a two-run double with runners on second and third after a balk. The offense continued. After a walk to Noh Si-hwan put runners on first and second with no outs, Moon Bo-kyung doubled down the right field line and Kang Baek-ho (KT WIZ) followed with a two-run single to right to make it 12-0.스포츠토토
Korea then scored one more run on back-to-back errors by the Thai defense to make it 13-0, and added two more runs on an infield single by Kim Sung-yoon (Samsung Lions), an infield grounder by Park Sung-sung (SSG Landers), and an RBI single to center by Kim Ji-chan (Samsung) to complete the 15-0 cold-game condition. Korea extended the lead to 17-0 on a two-run double down the right field line by Noh Si-hwan.
Korea closed out the game with a scoreless fifth inning of defense. Baseball at the Asian Games follows World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) rules, which call for a cold game if the score is 15 runs or more after the fifth inning and 10 runs or more after the seventh inning.
Yoon Dong-hee went 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored, while Noh Si-hwan went 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks and two RBIs. Starter Na Kyun-an (Lotte) also pitched four innings of four-hit ball, striking out nine.
No Responses