(Asiad) Nat'l baseball team squeezes past minor league club in scrimmage

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- In a scrimmage at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome on Thursday, South Korea's national baseball team narrowly avoided defeat against a minor league club, the military Sangmu. Managed by Ryu Ji-hyun, the national squad triumphed 7-6 in an eight-inning game, with all eight pitchers from the team contributing.

The national team, comprised of players from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), faced off against the second-tier Sangmu, which plays in the Futures League. Ryu Ji-hyun's strategic decision to deploy eight pitchers, each delivering around 30 pitches, paid dividends. However, two left-handed pitchers, Oh Won-seok and Bae Chan-seung, struggled, giving up multiple hits and runs.

Despite trailing 6-3 in the eighth inning, with runners on first and second to simulate an extra-inning scenario, South Korea rallied to score four runs, driven by hits from Park Jun-soon and Kim Gun-hee. The national team is set to depart for Nagoya on Friday, beginning their Asian Games campaign with a 6:30 p.m. match against Chinese Taipei, considered the primary obstacle to South Korea's pursuit of its fifth consecutive gold medal.