The Korean national team achieved a final victory by winning the final match of the World Youth Championship Super Round.안전놀이터

On the 9th, in the final game of the Super Round of the 31st World Youth Baseball Championship held at Tienmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan, the national team won 3-1 over the Netherlands, confirming their advancement to the bronze medal match.

As soon as the national team started attacking in the first inning, they took the lead by two runs thanks to timely hits from Park Ji-hwan (Segwang High School) and Cho Hyun-min (Chungam High School). And in the bottom of the third inning, Cho Hyun-min again brought home Yeo Dong-geon (Seoul High School) with a double to the right, making it 3-0.

The national team allowed 1 run on defense in the top of the 4th inning, but the pitchers kept the 5th through 7th innings scoreless. Starter Yook Seon-yeop (Jangchung High School) pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing 1 earned run, and sophomore Park Geon-woo (Chungam High School) pitched 2 innings with 4 strikeouts, already earning his 2nd win. National team ace Kim Taek-yeon (Incheon High School) and right-hander Jeon Mir (Gyeongbuk High School) continued throwing to end the game.

As a result, the national team recorded a record of 2 wins and 3 losses in the super round, tying with the United States and Puerto Rico, but the final ranking was determined according to the TQB (Team Quality Balance) selected by WBSC. The TQB calculation method is (scores ÷ offensive innings) – (runs allowed ÷ defensive innings). Accordingly, the United States ranked 3rd, South Korea ranked 4th, and Puerto Rico ranked 5th.

The national team will seek revenge against the United States at the same venue on the 10th. If they win against the United States, the national team will be able to regain the medal they missed last year. However, in a situation where the players are all tired of WBSC’s unreasonable method of running the competition, just getting this far is enough to be applauded.

Taiwan, taking full advantage of the home team’s advantage, even beat Japan and continued its ‘meaningless’ undefeated streak in the super round. Taiwan and Japan will also play the gold medal match at the same venue.