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Professional baseball team KT has secured the regular season championship and a direct advance to the Korean Series for the first time in 5 years.
Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the details.
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KT seized early control of the game by scoring 7 runs, starting with Hilliard's RBI double in the 1st inning, followed by Jang Jun-won's 3-run home run.
With Jang Jun-won hitting his second home run of the game in the 6th inning and Ahn Hyun-min launching a decisive solo homer in the 7th, alongside starting pitcher Logan's stellar performance of 8 scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts, KT cruised to a 9-0 shutout victory over Lotte.
Remaining on the field with their home fans to watch the result of second-place Samsung's game, the players hugged and cheered when their regular season title was confirmed after 5 years, relishing the moment by popping champagne to celebrate the championship.
[Lee Kang-cheol / KT Manager: When this season started, honestly, we didn't really think about finishing first. I think we were able to win thanks to the support of our fans, who helped us surpass 1 million visitors this year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.]
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In the match between third-place KIA and fourth-place LG, KIA smiled for the third consecutive day, fueled by Kim Do-young's dramatic home run.
Trailing 4-3 with 2 outs and runners on first and second in the top of the 9th inning, Kim Do-young hammered an inside fastball from LG's Go Woo-suk, launching a dramatic come-from-behind 3-run home run over the left-field wall.
By hitting this dramatic go-ahead homer, Kim Do-young recorded his 42nd home run of the season and reclaimed sole possession of the home run lead. Third-place KIA secured a 6-4 victory, widening the gap with fourth-place LG to 1 game and boosting their chances of advancing directly to the semi-playoffs.
LG, which lost all three games against KIA by giving up the decisive runs in the 9th inning, sank into an 8-game losing streak and is now being chased by fifth-place Doosan, with only a 2-game difference between them.
Professional baseball recorded a cumulative attendance of 12.362 million this season, breaking the all-time single-season attendance record once again in just one year.