The final round of games in this year’s PX Cup began in northern Taiwan yesterday with Kao Yuan Vocational School downing Pingtung Senior High School 4-1 at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City.
The school, whose list of distinguished alumni includes current Major League star Chen Wei-ying of the Baltimore Orioles and former Major League star Tsao Chin-hui, were shut out for five innings before the offense finally awoke in the sixth with two runs to take the lead for good.
Right-hander Liu Hsuan-da came out of the bullpen and tossed three shutout innings of one-hit ball to keep Kao Yuan within striking distance after starter Lee Hsin-hua had fallen behind 0-1 in the fourth.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
That was the mental boost that the “Green Monsters of the South” needed to turn the game around as the Kao Yuan offense put up four unanswered runs, with two in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead, before tacking on two insurance runs in the ninth to seal the victory.
Liu was credited with the win for his spectacular relief effort, while the save was credited to Lin Hua-ching, who pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth despite allowing a pair of hits.
Offensively for Kao Yuan, Pan Jung-yu and Ying Te-rong had two hits apiece to lead an attack that was extremely efficient as they managed to squeeze out four runs on the seven hits and five walks off the Pingtung pitching.
Taking the loss for Pingtung was starter Tsao Wei-yang, who lasted 5-2/3 innings with two allowed runs on five hits, while walking three and fanning three.
MEI HO 4, CHIANG SHU 1
Unlike Pingtung Senior High School of Pingtung City, Mei Ho High School of Pingtung County were victorious in their contest against Taipei’s Chiang Shu High School as the southerners outfought their foes from the north 4-1 to win their opener at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon.
Similar to Kao Yuan, Mei Ho also looked to their bullpen for help, with lefty reliever and game-winner Chang Kai-fu entering in the third and pitching six scoreless frames of three-hit ball after starter Liu Teng-jung had given up a second-inning run to fall behind early in the game.
Chiang Shu starter Hsu Ying-tseh cruised through the fourth with a narrow 1-0 lead, but failed to sustain his success in the fifth as he surrendered two runs to take the loss.
Yesterday’s other result:
‧ Sanmin 12, Dongshih 1
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