Korea defeated China 8-1 on Friday to advance to the Asian Games baseball gold medal game, moving within a win of capturing its fourth consecutive title.
Kim Ju-won belted a two-run home run to key a three-run second inning, and starter Won Tae-in tossed six shutout innings for a stress-free victory in the Super Round at Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Centre in Shaoxing, southeast of the main host city, Hangzhou.
Korea pounded out 16 hits.
In the gold medal game, set for 6 p.m. Saturday back in Shaoxing, Korea will take on Chinese Taipei in a rematch of the preliminary round game on Monday. Chinese Taipei prevailed 4-0 then, behind a strong outing by starter Lin Yu-Min.
Korea carried that one loss into the Super Round, but improved to 2-1 after beating Japan on Thursday and China on Friday.
China, which upset Japan in the preliminary round, fell out of gold medal contention after losing to Chinese Taipei on Thursday and to Korea 추천 on Friday.
Japan was already eliminated after its loss to Korea on Thursday. And Japan’s result against Chinese Taipei on Friday evening will not have any bearing on the gold medal game matchup. China and Japan will meet in the bronze medal game Saturday afternoon.
Korea produced some much-needed early offense.
Kang Baek-ho led off the top of the second with a single off starter Wang Weiyi, and Kim Ju-won followed up with a two-run homer to right-center field. It was Kim’s team-leading second home run of the tournament.
Kim Hyung-jun hit a single to chase Wang from the game and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Choi Ji-hoon to put Korea up 3-0.
Kang joined the party with a towering solo home run in the top of the third against reliever pitcher Wang Xiang.
Korea built a 6-0 lead in the top fourth, courtesy of Yoon Dong-hee’s double and Roh Si-hwan’s sacrifice fly.
Moon Bo-gyeong knocked in a pair of runs with a two-out double in the top of the eighth to round out Korea’s scoring.
Won allowed only three singles in six innings, while striking out six and walking none. China got a run back in the bottom eighth, but it wasn’t nearly enough to affect the game’s outcome.
Kang, a much-maligned slugger who has struggled in earlier international events, broke out for a 3-for-4 day at the plate. He had gone 2-for-14 before Friday.
Choi Ji-hoon batted 3-for-5 from the No. 2 spot, and five Koreans notched at least two hits in this game.
