South Korea pipped Taiwan in extra innings at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Florida on Friday after the pitchers from both sides dominated the seven regular innings.
South Korea — whose win created a three-way logjam at the top of the super round table and a potential rulebook examination to decide who the two top teams are to contest the final to be played early on Monday morning Taiwan time — scored three runs in the top of the eighth innings, while Taiwan could only manage two in the bottom half of the frame, the final out coming with the tying run rounding third base.
Taiwan, South Korea and the US all had three wins and one loss in the super round standings before the final round of games, with some points carried over from the opening round.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s game at LECOM Park in Bradenton was interrupted by rain after five innings.
Taiwan starting pitcher Huang Pao-lo and South Korea’s Hwang Jun-seo dominated the pre-break play, with Huang allowing only two hits over five innings.
The two starters were replaced after the two-hour rain delay, with the relievers showing themselves to be just as effective. South Korea’s Kim Seo-hyeon and Lin Po-chun of Taiwan forced the extra innings.
Photo: CNA
Wu Yu-cheng took over from Lin for the extra inning, which started with runners on first and second base, but Kim took the win by allowing one fewer run.
Wu got the first out in the top of the eighth as Park Hang-yeol bunted to advance the runners.
Pinch hitter Kim Jae-sang hit a hard chopper to third, where Huang Chieh-hsi made a diving stop, but threw away from first base, allowing a run. A second run was scored on a groundout and Jeong Jun-young made it 3-0 with a base hit.
In the bottom half of the frame, Chiu Hsin led off with a single to load the bases. With two outs, Huang Hsi-chieh hit a bloop single to right field, driving in two runs.
With Zheng Jun-wei rounding third, Huang Hsi-chieh tried to reach second, but was caught between shortstop Kim Jae-sang and first baseman Kim Min-suk and tagged, ending the game.
Taiwan were to play the Netherlands (1-3) in their final super round game after press time last night, while South Korea were to play Mexico (0-4) and Japan (2-2) faced the US (3-1).
The WBSC’s tie-break rules showed that if Taiwan, South Korea and the US all won overnight, leaving them with identical 4-1 records, “the team that won the game between the teams tied shall be given the higher position.”
With South Korea having beaten Taiwan, Taiwan previously beating the US and the US topping South Korea in the opening round, the Team Quality Balance (TQB) records would decide the top two teams to play in the final.
The organizers defined TQB as runs scored divided by innings played at bat minus the runs allowed divided by innings played on defense.
If TQB does not separate the teams, then earned runs, batting averages and ultimately a coin flip would decide team ranks.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
RSS