Taiwan’s national youth squad face Japan’s Samurai Warriors in today’s title game at the 11th Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) Under-18 Championship after defeating China 6-3 yesterday.
Taiwan and China were locked in a tight duel in the early innings, with the score leveled at 3-3. The hosts delivered a two-out hit to knock in two runs, going in front 5-3 in the seventh frame before taking it to 6-3 in the eighth.
Japan advanced into the title game yesterday after defeating South Korea 3-1.
In yesterday’s second-tier playoff pool games, Hong Kong edged the Philippines 7-5, while Thailand thrashed Indonesia 11-2.
On Friday, Japanese starter Naruki Terashima threw a no-hitter through seven innings to blank China 8-0. The left-handed pitcher combined with reliever Takahisa Hayakawa to shut out the Chinese hitters, dealing out 17 strikeouts in the contest.
Clean-up man Ryuhei Kuki slammed a home run in the fourth frame and outfielder Yuki Hayashinake ripped a triple to drive in three runs in the next inning to lead the Samurai Warriors on their way to victory.
Taiwan needed to go into an extra inning before overcoming the tenacious South Koreans 12-6 on Friday night.
The two teams traded blows in a seasaw affair, with South Korea equalizing in the third and ninth innings.
With Taiwan in front 5-2 after the fifth frame, South Korea’s “White Tiger” Kang Baek-ho crushed a solo homer to make it 5-3 in the eighth inning. Then the visitors rallied with two hits and one walk to plate two runs and tied up the game at five apiece after the ninth inning.
Going into the extra inning, the tiebreaker format was applied by placing two runners on base to expedite scoring. Team Taiwan took advantage of fielding errors and issued walks, along with key hits to push seven runners home in the 10th frame, while South Korea could only reply with one run, for the hosts to triumph 12-6.
After the game, Taiwan head coach Tsai Ming-tang said: “Our players did not quit in this contest, and this is what baseball spirit is all about.”
“There were some misjudgments by the umpires, so I had to walk to the diamond to protest some of their decisions,” he said. “It was also to let the players know that I care about this game very much... We have to beat China on Saturday [yesterday], so that we can get into the title game on Sunday [today].”
Friday’s other games had Hong Kong defeating Thailand 10-7 in a surprisingly close contest, while the Philippines rolled over Indonesia 21-2.
Today’s game for third place between South Korea and China gets under way at 12pm at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium, while the title game is scheduled for 6pm at the same venue.
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