Korea to face Chinese Taipei in Asian Games baseball final

Korea will face Chinese Taipei in the final of the baseball tournament at the Hangzhou Asian Games after beating China 8-1 in both team’s last game of the super round on Friday.

Korean starting pitcher Won Tae-in throws his pitch during a Hanzhou Asian Games super round game against China in Hangzhou, China on Friday. [YONHAP]

Korea will face Chinese Taipei in the final of the baseball tournament at the Hangzhou Asian Games after beating China 8-1 in both team’s last game of the super round on Friday.

Korea made short work of a Chinese squad that had qualified for the super round in an advantageous position after beating Japan in the group stage, taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning and continuing to pile on for the remainder of the game.

Korea added one more in the third, two in the fourth and two in the eighth to go 8-0 up before China managed to pull one back at the bottom of the eighth. Both closers executed in the ninth, ending the game at 8-1 and booking Korea a spot in the final.

Kim Ju-won and Kang Baek-ho both picked up home runs during the game, with Kim and Moon Bo-gyeong also taking two RBIs each. But the real star of the game for Korea was starter Won Tae-in, who kept things shut down on the mound with just three hits in six innings pitched.

Korea earlier beat Japan on Thursday for two wins in the super round, enough to lock in a spot in the final as China have one — carried over from the group stage against Japan — and Japan have none.

Chinese Taipei and Japan are still to play the last super round game on Friday evening as of press time, but the result is immaterial — Chinese Taipei already have two wins in the super round and Japan have zero, ensuring Chinese Taipei advances regardless and Japan take on China in the bronze medal game.

Chinese Taipei will prove to be a tough opponent for Korea when the two sides face off in the final on Saturday. They have already faced off in the group stage, with Chinese Taipei handing Korea its only loss of the tournament so far: 4-0 on Oct. 2.

Korea have been on a roll since then, beating Thailand 17-0 in five innings, Japan 2-0 and China X-X. The young Korean squad will need to ride that momentum into the final as they look to see more action from the bats in the Chinese Taipei rematch.

While Korea and Japan might be expected to be the two strongest teams in the tournament, both countries opted to bring weaker or younger squads so as not to overly disrupt the ongoing KBO and Nippon Professional Baseball league seasons.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]