“It would have been difficult for Korea to play a double header.”
The Korean youth baseball team lost 1-7 against Japan in the first game of the Super Round of the ‘2023 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 (Under 18) Baseball World Cup’ held at Tienmu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan on the afternoon of the 7th. .
Korea’s final group match against Puerto Rico on the 6th was declared suspended in the third inning due to heavy rain, so the game continued on the morning of the 7th. Korea defeated Puerto Rico 8-1 and advanced to the super round as second place in the group (4 wins, 1 loss). Then, on the afternoon of the 7th, they played a double header against Japan in the first game of the super round.
Korea suffered a complete defeat against Japan, which had a day off on the 6th, as its mound and defense collapsed. Korea allowed 3 points at once due to errors in the 2nd inning. The leadoff hitter got on base with a strikeout and no out, and an infield hit put the team on first and second base with one out. It was a flawed defense by the first baseman. Starting pitcher Bae Seung-chan’s wild pitch resulted in second and third bases. He allowed a 2-RBI triple to Chibana and gave up the 3rd run with an infield ground ball.
There was hardly any clue in the attack. He had only one hit until the fourth inning. After two outs in the 5th inning, he had a chance to reach first and second base with Jo Hyun-min’s heavy hit and Lee Yul-ye’s walk, but failed to score with Lee Sang-jun’s fly ball to center field.스포츠토토
After one out in the top of the sixth inning, Lee Chung-heon reached base with a single, and Yeo Dong-geon’s left-field hit put the runners on first and third base with two outs. Park Ji-hwan made up for one point with a timely hit to the left. With 2 outs and 1st and 2nd bases, pinch hitter Kim Tae-hyun retired with a ground ball to 3rd base.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Bae Chan-seung allowed a solo home run to leadoff hitter Shuya Yamada. The score was 1-4. Jeon Mir came up as a relief pitcher, but was driven to first and third base with one out and a walk due to a hit, sent bunt, and walk. With 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd base, Chibana was allowed 2 RBI and a timely hit, and then 1 more run was allowed, making the score 1-7.
Starter Bae Chan-seung allowed 4 hits, 7 strikeouts, and 4 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings. Jeon Mir allowed 3 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs in 1 inning.
This morning, Japan waited for the results of Korea and Puerto Rico to see who their opponent would be in the first game. According to Japanese media outlet Full Count, Japanese coach Shiro Mabuchi said, “I told the players that it would be the same no matter which team they face. Yesterday, Korea was suspended at 5-1, so I was expecting that they would face Korea in the first game, so I wasn’t really surprised. He said, “I think Korea may have had a difficult time.”
Japanese starting pitcher Maeda pitched 47 pitches in 4 innings, allowing 1 hit and no runs. His highest velocity was 145 km/h. Coach Mabuchi said, “If Maeda didn’t throw that much, I don’t know what would happen. It was his kind of pitching.”
He continued, “Yamada’s home run (in the 6th inning) was big. It was a really big blow because the 2-point difference and 3-point difference were completely different in the remaining two innings. Today, if the top batting order is not possible, it is in a good form to connect to the bottom batting order, and from the bottom batting order to the top batting order. “It was the ideal way to win,” he said.