The Korean baseball team at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games secured a cold game victory against Thailand, following their win over Hong Kong the previous day. With this win, Korea has confirmed its advancement to the Super Round as the top team in their group.
Under the leadership of manager Ryu Ji-hyun, the Korean team triumphed 18-1 in a cold game during their third match of Group B, held on September 23 at the Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Korea achieved three consecutive victories, defeating Taiwan 5-0, Hong Kong 13-0 (7-inning cold game), and Thailand 18-1 (5-inning cold game), securing first place in their group.
In this tournament, a cold game is called when a team leads by 15 runs after five innings or 10 runs after seven innings, except for the final.
Korea started strong, attacking Thailand's pitching from the first inning. After scoring the first run on a sacrifice fly by Noh Si-hwan, Moon Bo-kyung hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0. In the second inning, with the bases loaded and no outs, Park Jae-hyun hit a grand slam, extending the lead to 7-0.
Korea added three more runs in the third inning and exploded for eight runs in the fourth. Park Jun-soon hit a grand slam after the batting order turned over, pushing the score to 18-0. Although they allowed one run in the fifth due to a defensive error, it did not affect the outcome.
Park Jae-hyun led the offense with two hits, one home run, five RBIs, and three runs scored, while Park Jun-soon contributed two hits, one home run, four RBIs, and two runs. Starting pitcher Oh Won-seok delivered an impressive performance, allowing just one hit over four innings with seven strikeouts and no runs. Bae Chan-seung finished the fifth inning, allowing one unearned run.
Korea will carry the results of their group stage matchups into the Super Round, where they will face the top two teams from Group A on September 25-26. The top two teams from the Super Round will advance to the gold medal match on September 27, while the third and fourth place teams will compete for the bronze medal on the same day.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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