Korea U-15 Baseball Team advances to Super Round after sweeping Philippines…Jae-Hwi Lee leads 4-hit performance

The Korea National Under-15 Baseball Team, which is participating in the 11th Asian Youth Baseball Championship (U-15), secured a spot in the Super Round with a 9-1 win over the Philippines in the third game of the tournament’s preliminary round on August 22 at the Weihai Baseball Field in China.

In the third game, which was called off after the previous day’s second game against Chinese Taipei due to rain, South Korea sent out starting pitcher Park Ji-hoo and a lineup of Jae-hwi Jae (left fielder, Bucheon Jung 3), Kim Dong-young (shortstop, Segwang Jung 3), Lee Hyun-min (center fielder, Gyeongsangbuk-do 3), Um Jun-sang (3B, Jayang 3), Kim Ji-woo (1B, Gangnam 3), Ha Hyun-seung (DH, Centum 3), Seol Jae-min (catcher, Deoksu 3), Bae Jong-yoon (right fielder, Hwasun 3), and Choi Woo-joon (2B, Gyeongsangnam 3).

With the field not fully drained due to the morning’s rain, both teams were unable to generate much offense until the first inning. In the top of the third inning, Park Ki-won (Segwangjung 3), who took the mound, gave up a single to left field to the first batter. Korea got the next batter to ground out to second base, but the third batter of the inning singled up the middle after a wild pitch to give the Philippines the lead. Fortunately, Park Ki-won got the next batter to fly out to left field to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, leadoff hitter Jae-hwi Jae singled to right field and advanced to second when the right fielder fumbled the ball. Jae-hwi then attempted to steal third, but when the third baseman failed to catch the throw from the catcher, he darted home to tie the game. In the next at-bat, Korea continued to exploit the weaknesses in the opposing defense as the second and third batters reached on back-to-back singles, and the fourth batter, Uhm Jun-sang, singled to left field. The team scored seven runs in the third inning to take the lead for good.메이저사이트

In the bottom of the fourth, South Korea added two runs on RBI singles by Ha Hyun-seung and Bae Jong-yoon. Despite the one run in the third inning, Park Ki-won pitched the remaining four innings with four strikeouts to close out the game.

Head coach Song Yong-ju said, “It must have been difficult for the players to adjust to the postponement of the game against Chinese Taipei the day before. We will put our best foot forward in the final match of the preliminary round to get a favorable result for the Super Round.”

Meanwhile, with two wins in the preliminary round, South Korea will play the final game of the preliminary round against tied Chinese Taipei for the top spot in Group B at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.