U-18 Baseball Team Defeats Taiwan to Claim First Tournament Win

[Anchor]

The South Korean national under-18 baseball team has kicked off the Asian Youth Baseball Championship with a victory, defeating the host country, Taiwan.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the details.

[Reporter]

With ace Ha Hyun-seung starting on the mound, our national team found itself facing an early threat in the first inning with two outs and no runners on base, when Chang Yuan hit a triple.

Shortly after, cleanup hitter Huang Shih-yao hit a deep infield grounder, but shortstop Eom Jun-sang displayed brilliant defense.

After fielding it with a backhand, he made a phenomenal throw to prevent a run.

Having escaped the jam, Ha regained his composure and dominated the mound.

Mixing fastballs reaching up to 150 km/h with sharp breaking balls, he struck out 12 batters and pitched a scoreless game until two outs in the sixth inning.

Held hitless through five innings, the bats capitalized on their sole opportunity in the sixth.

With runners on first and third with one out—set up by Nam Hyun-woo's first hit, Park Bo-seung's sacrifice bunt, and Cho Hee-sung's short center-field single—Nam Hyun-woo raced home on Eom Jun-sang's shortstop grounder to score the opening run.

Soon after, Lee Ho-min drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Having taken the lead, the national team brought in shortstop Eom Jun-sang to the mound, who pitched scoreless ball from two outs in the sixth through the seventh inning to secure a 2-0 victory over Taiwan.

[Ha Hyun-seung / U-18 National Baseball Team Player: (Winning the first game) has put the team's morale in a great place. I will keep this momentum going, recover well, and prepare thoroughly so that if I take the mound in another important game, I can contribute to the team.]

Having won what was effectively the battle for first place in the group, the national team will play its second match against Singapore today (September 8).

(Video Editing: Ha Sung-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.