Taiwan’s men’s baseball team yesterday took home a bronze medal in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s U-18 Baseball World Cup, after clinching a nail-biting 3-2 victory over South Korea following an overturned call in the tournament held in Okinawa, Japan.
With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the seventh, Taiwanese catcher Jiang Ting-yi drove in the game-winning run with a two-out single, sending home third-baseman Zeng Sheng-en.
Zeng was originally ruled out. However, Taiwan asked for a review. The play was overturned and ruled an obstruction, as the umpire determined that the South Korean catcher had blocked Zeng’s path to the home plate without possession of the ball.
Photo: CNA
Reliever Su Lan-hong retired the final three South Korean batters in the bottom of the inning to hold on for the win.
The victory gave Taiwan their eighth bronze medal in the U-18 Baseball World Cup, which features players aged 16 to 18, since the tournament was first held in 1981.
Taiwan manager Liao Hung-yuan told reporters following the victory that the whole team were doing their best defensively and offensively. He gave high praise to all his players for showing strong determination to win.
Jiang, who delivered the game-winning RBI single, told reporters that he was not particularly nervous despite it being a clutch moment, as he had faced similar pressure before.
“With a runner in scoring position, I did not think the pitcher would throw me a fastball, so I focused instead on hitting a breaking ball,” he said.
Taiwan are three-time champions at the tournament and last won gold in 2019.
The bronze medal match yesterday morning was a back-and-forth game.
South Korea designated hitter Kim Geon-whi smacked a solo home run off Taiwan’s starter Liu Jen-yu in the bottom of the second inning, giving the South Korean team an early 1-0 lead.
Coming from behind, Taiwan managed to tie the score at 1-1 before taking a 2-1 lead with three hits in the top of the fifth. The resilient South Korean team later tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth on a walk, a stolen base and a timely hit by Kim.
Meanwhile, the US defeated hosts Japan 2-0 in the final.
The standings for this year’s U-18 from fifth to 12th place are: Puerto Rico, Panama, Cuba, Australia, Italy, Germany, China and South Africa.
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