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| ▲ Won Tae-in of the South Korean Olympic baseball team pitches against Sangmu in a tuneup game ahead of the Tokyo Olympics at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 23, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Choi Joo-hwan of the South Korean Olympic baseball team rounds the bases after hitting a three-run home run against Sangmu in a tuneup game ahead of the Tokyo Olympics at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 23, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Oh Ji-hwan of the South Korean Olympic baseball team hits a double against Sangmu in a tuneup game ahead of the Tokyo Olympics at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 23, 2021. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) (Olympics) S Korea-baseball
(LEAD) (Olympics) S. Korea beats minor league team in 1st baseball tuneup game
(ATTN: ADDS comments in paras 5-8, details in para 3)
SEOUL, July 23 (Yonhap) -- Defending Olympic baseball champion South Korea cruised to a 9-0 victory over the minor league military club Sangmu in the first of three tuneup games on Friday, behind strong pitching and opportunistic offense.
Starter Won Tae-in threw three innings of one-hit ball, with four more pitchers putting zeroes on the board at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Leadoff Park Hae-min went 2-for-4 with a bases-clearing, three-run triple in the second inning. Choi Joo-hwan came off the bench and blasted a three-run homer in the seventh. No. 8 hitter Oh Ji-hwan reached the base five times, thanks to three doubles and two walks. South Korea pounded out 11 hits in the rout.
Won, the Samsung Lions' ace in the midst of a career year, will likely get the nod in South Korea's first Olympic preliminary game against Israel next Thursday. The 21-year-old is 10-4 with a 2.54 ERA this year in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
South Korea manager Kim Kyung-moon said he was particularly happy with the way his batters swung the bat after a long layoff. The KBO regular season was suspended at the start of last week due to multiple COVID-19 cases involving two clubs, and the league entered the Olympic break at the start of this week. For some players, this was the first game action in more than two weeks.
"Considering that this was the first tuneup game, some of our hitters looked surprisingly good at the plate," Kim said. "Things went better than expected."
Aside from the lopsided score, the manager was also heartened by his players' hustle and effort.
"Even when the hitters got behind in the count, they hung tough, fouled off pitches, and battled until the end," Kim said. "And players like Oh Ji-hwan ran the bases hard to take the extra base. That was great to see."
South Korea will face two KBO clubs over the next two days to wrap up their training camp: LG Twins on Saturday and Kiwoom Heroes on Sunday.
The national team will then depart for Japan on Monday.
(END)
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