The Korea National Under-18 Baseball Team has been swept by host Chinese Taipei in its first game of the World Youth Baseball Championship.
The Korea National Under-18 Baseball Team, coached by Lee Young-bok, fell to Chinese Taipei 1-6 in their first game of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 World Youth Baseball Championship 2023 Preliminary Round in Taichung, Taiwan on Sunday.
The game started off well. Park Si-hyun led off with a single to right and stole second as the defense dropped the ball. Lee Chung-heon’s sacrifice bunt advanced her to third, and Yeo Dong-gun brought her home with a single to right. Korea took a 1-0 lead.
But the mound couldn’t hold off the Taiwanese bats. South Korea’s starting pitcher was left-hander Hwang Jun-seo (18-Jang Chung-go), the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 KBO First-Year Player Draft. In the top of the first inning, Hwang gave up a leadoff single to right fielder Lee Seung-min and then a stolen base to put runners on second and third. From there, he gave up a single to left field to Wang Nianhao. Tied 1-1.
After a scoreless second inning, Hwang Jun-seo was shaken up in the top of the third as he walked to load the bases and gave up a balk, a wild pitch and a single. With runners on first and third, he gave up back-to-back singles to pinch-hitters Chiu Sin and Li Sun Chia. With runners on first and third, Kim Taek-yeon (18, Incheon, Korea), who took over the mound, singled up the middle to Huang Tien-tsu, allowing another run to score. Hwang ended the first game with four runs (three earned) on five hits in 2 1/3 innings with three walks (two hit by pitches and one hit by a pitch) and three strikeouts.스포츠토토
After failing to generate any offense after the first inning, the team scored one more run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a double, back-to-back walks, and a hit batter, and another in the bottom of the sixth inning on a single to left, a stolen base, and a fielding error, resulting in a final score of 1-6.
Meanwhile, the team was scheduled to play its first game of the preliminary round against Puerto Rico on the 1st, but the game was canceled due to rain and the team will continue the preliminary round with six days of rest. Due to the impact of Typhoon Haikui, a Category 11 storm passing through Taiwan, all matches on Day 3 will be played on an accelerated schedule, with the second match of the preliminary round against the Czech Republic being moved from 19:30 to 16:00.
Drawn in Group A alongside Taiwan, Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Czech Republic, South Korea will need to finish in the top three of their group to advance to the Super Round.