S. Korea defeats Taiwan to reach final vs. Japan at regional baseball tournament

South Korea secured a 6-4 victory over Taiwan in the ongoing regional baseball tournament in Tokyo on Saturday, advancing to the championship final against Japan. The match, part of the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC), saw South Korea open their offensive with three solo home runs, including a crucial tiebreaking hit by Kim Do-yeong in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Previously, South Korea had suffered losses to Australia (8-7) and Japan (9-5). With Japan's dominant 16-1 win over Australia earlier on Saturday, all three teams - South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia - concluded the round-robin phase with a 1-2 record, while Japan topped the standings with a perfect 3-0 performance. South Korea emerged victorious in a tiebreaking formula known as Team Quality Balance (TQB), which calculates the sum of runs scored per offensive innings, minus the number of runs allowed per defensive innings.

This marks the third edition of the APBC, with South Korea and Japan facing off in three consecutive finals, with Japan prevailing in the two prior finals. The APBC is a competition for players aged 24 and younger.