Taichung City edged Hualien County in a 3-2 baseball thriller in the E Sun Cup’s loser’s bracket of the Group A preliminaries at the National Taiwan University of Sport in Taichung yesterday afternoon to qualify for the fourth and final spot in the second round of play.
The win came just one day after Taichung exploded past Miaoli County in an 11-2 final to even their record at 1-1 following an upset loss to Hsinchu County in their opener early on Thursday morning.
Early runs by Hualien on the back of three singles and an error by Taichung put the hosts in a 0-2 hole, but Taichung regrouped after a rain delay of more than 70 minutes with a run in the sixth before hitting in a pair of runs in the decisive seventh to skid ahead.
The 3-2 lead for Taichung lasted into the eighth, which just finished before a heavy downpour drenched the field to force officials to end the game.
HSINCHU CITY 0, TAINAN CITY 7
Previously unbeaten Tainan City, who had not conceded a run in the tournament, broke a 1-0 lead wide open with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and went on to defeat Hsinchu City in a shutout over eight innings to close out Group A’s preliminaries with a perfect 3-0 record.
Starter Lin An-ko went the distance, tossing a three-hit gem on a wet morning to lead the victors, retiring 18 Hsinchu hitters in a row at one point, while fanning seven and walking one in a dominating outing for skipper Chen Hsien-jung.
Offensively for Tainan, Chan Wei-hung’s two-for-four hitting with three RBIs highlighted a 10-hit effort that left Hsinchu with a 1-1 record.
NANTOU 2, TAIPEI CITY 5
Taipei City qualified for the second round of play with a win over Nantou County at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium in Yunlin County yesterday morning, getting themselves a 2-1 record in the losers’ bracket in the Group B preliminaries.
It was the second straight win for the team from the capital after they had a 10-0 loss to Pingtung County in five innings in Thursday morning’s opener.
However, with a 7-2 win over Yulin County on Friday and yesterday’s triumph, Taipei City managed to reach the second round as the fourth seed.
CHANGHUA 6, PINGTUNG 3
Changhua County rallied past Pingtung County with six unanswered runs over the final two innings of play to win in Group B play in Douliou yesterday afternoon.
The come-from-behind victory propelled Changhua into next week’s second round play as the third seed in Group C as they finished off in the losers’ bracket of the preliminaries on a high note.
Chang Kai-hsuan was credited with the win for Changhua, while the loss was charged against Pingtung’s Chiou Yu-ning.
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