For the first time this season, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) action will be held in Luodong, Yilan, a town on the northeastern coast, where the Macoto Cobras will host the Brother Elephants for a pair of games over the weekend.
In an effort to bring our national pastime to every corner of the nation, the league has scheduled regular-season contests in cities beyond the major metropolises, such as Luodong, Pingtung, Hualien and Douliou, so that fans can have firsthand experience in interacting with their favorite baseball heroes.
Preview: Cobras vs Elephants
PHOTO: BROTHER ELEPHANTS
The Cobras started their three-game series for the week with yesterday's opener against the Elephants in Hsinchuang before they travel to Luodong for the weekend matches.
Rookie sensation Lin En-yu (4-1) will be looking to bounce back from his first loss of the season last week in tomorrow's game to prove that his impressive 4-0 start was no fluke.
Standing in Lin's way will be Elephant righty Harold Woodman (4-1) of the US, who also suffered his first setback of the season last week in a game against the La New Bears.
Following the Lin-Woodman matchup tomorrow will be Sunday's showdown between the teams' two aces: veteran right-hander Jonathan Hurst for the Elephants and second-year lefty Lin Ying-jeh for the Cobras.
Bulls vs Whales
The second-placed Sinon Bulls will finish their four-game set against the league-leading Chinatrust Whales with a couple of games in Taichung, starting with tonight's game before tomorrow's series finale.
All eyes will be on how effective the Whales' outstanding pitching staff can contain the high-powered Bulls offense that batted its way to their first-ever title last year.
Lions vs Bears
The La New Bears will play host to the President Lions in Kaohsiung for three highly anticipated games as the two southern Taiwan-based squads fight for supremacy to rule the South.
While the Bears have played their last five games tough, including two solid wins over the Elephants last week, they have not exactly matched the Lions with a 1-6 record in head-to-head competition thus far.
As for the Lions, who have been anything but consistent, the season is already comprised of two four-game losing streaks, and a four-game and a five-game winning streak.
Which team will show up for this week's games is as good a guess as any.
Earlier action: Lions 3, Bears 1
Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen rewarded skipper Hsieh Chang-hern's decision to place him back in the starting rotation with a 3-1 win over the Bears on Tuesday.
The former rookie-of-the-year winner for the Lions overcame his control problem that earlier cost him his starting role with eight innings of one-run ball.
Pan's solid performance negated an otherwise decent effort by Bear veteran Wade Travis, who yielded three runs on four hits in 6-1/3 innings of play.
Bulls 3, Whales 1
Osvaldo Martinez upped his league-best victory total to seven games on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over the Whales in Hsinchuang.
The Bulls' top starter allowed a run on six hits in seven innings before fellow relief specialist Ho Chi-shien secured the win with his seventh save of the year.
Lack of run support hurt the Whales' Australian righty Bradley Purcell as he dropped the heartbreaker in another sound outing, giving up two runs (one earned) on eight hits in six innings of work.
Offensively for the Bulls, leftfielder Yu Hsien-ming's run-scoring double in the top of the sixth broke a 1-all tie and turned the game.
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