Taiwan yesterday beat Mexico 4-1 on a soggy field at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium to remain undefeated at the U-18 Baseball World Cup.
Taiwanese pitchers Zhang Jun-wei, Tseng Wei-che and Chen Mu-heng withstood the wet weather brought by Typhoon Haikui to hold Mexico to just five hits and one run for the home team to sit 3-0 atop the Group A standings of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation tournament.
After a calm first inning, Hu Meng-chih scored in the top of the second, when a Huang Tien-szu single to third base resulted in a throwing error by Mexico.
Photo: CNA
Their North American opponents got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, capitalizing on starter Zhang allowing two walks — Angel Arredondo and Antonis Macia.
Arredondo then scored from second after Omar Bustamante hit a two-out RBI single to tie the game.
Taiwan retook the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning, starting with infielder Wang Nian-hao.
Wang singled to get on first base, before a sacrifice bunt from outfielder Ko Ching-hsien put him on second. Wang scored after a pair of singles from Lee Hsun-chieh and Chang Chao-hung.
Lee scored after Mexico reliever Jesus Rodriguez allowed a bases loaded walk.
In the top of the seventh inning, outfielder Lin Chia-wei scored off a single from Lee to secure the victory.
Taiwan earned their second tournament win on Saturday night, dominating South Korea 6-1.
South Korea took an early lead in the top of the first inning, with Park Si-hyun — who got to second off a leadoff single before advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt from Lee Choong-heon — scored off a base hit by Yeo Tong-keon.
Starter Lin Wei-en ended the frame with back-to-back strikeouts, before Taiwan tied it in the bottom of the first when an RBI single from Wang sent outfielder Hsu Ting-lun home on a wild pitch by starter Hwan Jun-seo and a defensive error.
After a scoreless second inning, Taiwan took a healthy 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning, with runs from Wang and Ko.
Wang walked on base after he was hit by Hwan. While Ko was at bat, Wang took third off a wild pitch, and Ko was walked.
Wang then scored off a single from Chiu Hsin, while Ko scored off a Lee single.
Kim Taei-kyeon, who relieved Hwan, could not keep Taiwan in check, as Chiu scored off a Huang single to center field.
Chiu later contributed to Taiwan’s fifth run in the bottom of the fourth inning, after his single brought home fellow Lin Chia-wei.
Ko gave Taiwan a 6-1 lead and the last run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, with another assist from Chiu.
Taiwan — who won their first game on Thursday, blanking Australia 3-0 — are today to play the Czech Republic.
After a rain delay last night, South Korea pummeled the Czech Republic 14-1 to record their first win of the tournament.
Puerto Rico, who yesterday beat Australia 6-0, are second in Group A.
In Group B, world No. 1 Japan pipped their world No. 2 rivals the US 4-3 at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium.
Japan lead Group B 3-0.
In the other Group B games yesterday, Venezuela beat Spain 6-1 and the Netherlands survived Panama 4-3.
Taiwan, the 2019 champions and runners-up to the US in last year’s championship in Florida, are hosting the tournament for the first time in 10 years. It ends on Sunday.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed