Taking advantage of a pair of three-run innings, National Sports Training Center edged past Veetime of Greater Taichung in a 7-5 final at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium yesterday afternoon to take the weekend series by a 2-1 margin.
The win also avenged an embarrassing defeat that the Trainers suffered the night before, in which they were shut out by Veetime in a 12-0 blowout that featured five devastating errors by the National Sports Training Center defense.
Setup man Lin Po-rue entered with two outs in the fifth and his team trailing by two and did his job by silencing the Veetime bats for the next 2-1/3 innings to give his offense the necessary time to rally from behind.
He was rightfully awarded the win for his outstanding play, even though his bullpen mates nearly squandered the lead with two allowed runs late in the game.
“[Lin] really came in and put the stopper on against the opposing offense to give our batters a chance to stay in the game,” National Sports Training Center manager Wang Guang-hui said after the game.
Lin came into the game earlier than he had expected because starter Chou Lei was pulled with an injured finger during the fifth.
Offensively for the Trainers, the heart of the order, consisting of Ho Yu-deh, Dionys Cesar and Kuo Fu-lin, accounted for six of their dozen hits, with Cesar leading the way with three hits and an RBI on the day.
After a three-run fourth by Veetime that set the Trainers back 1-3, they were able to regroup and plate three runs of their own in the top of the fifth that gave them a narrow 4-3 lead before tacking on three more insurance runs in the seventh to lead it for good.
Trailing by four to start the bottom of the seventh, Veetime managed to get one of the runs back with Lee Chia-rong tripling and scoring on an RBI groundout by Chen Wei-han and an RBI double by Chang Chin-lung in the eighth.
However, that was as close as they got as the Trainers sent Hung Sheng-chin to the mound to finish the eight before the right-hander tossed a scoreless ninth to preserve the win for Lin.
CHII LIH CORAL 8, TAIPOWER 5
Taitung’s Chii Lih Coral overcame an early 1-2 deficit with a four-run fourth and held on to top Taipower by an 8-5 margin in Greater Taichung last night to avoid being swept by the Power Crew on the road.
Wang Cheng-hao improved to 4-2 for the season with the win, thanks to a great ninth-inning effort by closer and former Major Leaguer Luo Chia-ren to deny Taipower any chances of a comeback.
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