The President Lions stormed their way into their second-straight Taiwan Series with a 13-2 rout of the Macoto Cobras in Game 3 on Sunday night, completing a sweep of the best-of-five Playoff Series against the first-half of the season champs.
The 4,000-plus fans on hand were treated to a dynamite display of explosive offense as the Lions racked up a record-high 16 hits in a postseason contest for 13 runs to chase the serpents out of the ballpark in convincing fashion.
Leading the Lions attack with his red-hot bat was Kao Guo-ching, who lit up the Tainan sky with a monstrous three-run homer and a clutch two-run single with two outs on a 3-for-4 effort to drive in a record-high five RBIs on the night. The fourth-year first baseman has blossomed into the premier power hitter in the league with an incredible season that saw him connect for 152 base hits and 20 homers, both career-highs.
It was only fitting that Kao finished off the game with an unassisted out at first after he fielded a grounder from the final Cobras hitter.
"Wow! It's been one heck of a run for us ... Now we must do it again against the Bears to cap it all off," Kao said after the game.
The Lions' whipping of the Cobras began with Kao's two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the third to give the hosts a quick 2-0 lead. The serpents answered with a run of their own in the top of the fourth, courtesy of Hsieh "The Ugly" Jia-shien's solo shot off Lions starter Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen.
Then came the three-run blast by Kao in the fifth off Cobras starter Andy Van Hekken that upped the Lions lead to 5-1. The Lions then took control with a five-run sixth, highlighted by Chen Lien-hong's three-run opposite-field homer that cleared the right-field wall.
Kuo Dai-chi's two-run zinger following Wang Tzu-song's RBI double in the eighth concluded the scoring. The Lions swarmed a ribbon-covered field after Kao made the final out of the game to celebrate their series-clinching win.
Picking up the big win for the Lions was Pan, who allowed a run on six hits over five innings to record his second career postseason win.
Tagged with the lopsided loss for the Cobras was Van Hekken who lasted one out into the fifth, giving up five runs on six hits while striking out six and walking three. Three of the five runs he allowed were unearned as the Cobras defense committed four errors.
Taiwan Series
Next up for the victorious Lions will be Game 1 in the 2007 Taiwan Series on Saturday in a rematch against the defending champs, the La New Bears.
It will be an all-south Fall Classic this year with the Kaoh-siung-based Bears hosting the first two games in a best-of-seven series against the Tainan Lions.
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