Taiwan yesterday had the lead in the baseball on the third day of the Taipei Summer Universiade until France scored four runs in the final inning, upsetting the hosts 4-3.
Center fielder Wang Cheng-tang gifted the win to France when he misjudged a fly ball on loaded bases, with two outs for France and down by 3-1.
Wang ran to catch the fly ball, for what should have been the final out, but dropped it, and three French players scampered home to snatch a dramatic win for the visitors at Taipei’s Tianmu Baseball Stadium.
Photo: CNA
The hosts seized one run in the fifth inning, then added two more in the eighth frame to lead 3-0 going into the final inning.
Closer Chiang Kuo-hao was on the mound to get the last three outs for Taiwan, but France hung on in their final at-bat.
After two outs, Chiang hit the next man, then yielded two singles for France to load the bases.
Dylan Lechevallier hit a single to drive in one run as France faced a 3-1 deficit with loaded bases and two outs. Taiwan brought in reliever Wu Chun-chieh to face Felix Brown for the potential final out.
Brown sent a shot into shallow outfield. The play saw Wang drop the ball, and all three France runners made it to home base to grab the improbable victory.
The home side’s loss wasted a stellar effort by Taiwan’s lefty starter Lu Yen-ching, who tossed six scoreless innings to scatter four hits and pick up 12 strikeouts.
“Our pitchers had done very well early on, but the game turned on the error in the last play. Wang really wanted to catch the ball, but he missed. We have to chalk it up as a lesson learned. We should have won. We will live to regret this result,” Taiwan manager Kuo Lee Chien-fu said after the game.
“Wang felt bad over his error, so I went to console him. I told him and other players to learn from the mistake and turn it into motivation to play better in the next game,” Kuo Lee said.
In the other preliminary action, Japan blew away Russia 19-0, with the game called in the fifth inning.
Japan pounded five Russian pitchers with 18 hits, with the outcome in no doubt with 12 runs in two frames. They added three runs in each of the next two innings, and one in the fifth.
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