Ryu Joong-il won his first win in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023 by defeating Australia after a struggle.

The Korean national baseball team, led by coach Ryu Joong-il, defeated Australia 3-2 in the first game of APBC 2023 held at Tokyo Dome in Japan at noon on the 16th. 

With this, Korea started the tournament on a good note by reporting its first win.

It was a meaningful result in many ways. 

Korea, which finished in second place in APBC 2017, the first and most recent competition, after competing with Japan and Taiwan

is limited to players aged 24 or younger (born after January 1, 1999) or within 3 years of joining a professional league club (joined after 2021). In this competition

where only those born after January 1, 1994 (three wild cards are allowed) can participate

they were aiming for two birds with one stone: a generational change and victory.

Korea, which will clash with Japan and Chinese Taipei on the 17th and 18th, can secure a ticket to the finals at 6 PM on the 19th if it ranks in the top two.

Although it played a difficult game, it was able to secure a victory and set the stage for that. .

In addition, Korea avenged its loss at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held earlier this year. 

At that time, Korea bowed to Australia 7-8 after a hard-fought game, and was unable to overcome the aftermath and suffered the humiliation of being eliminated in the first round.

Fortunately, there were no two mistakes. Although Korea struggled that day

they did not give up until the end and were able to shake off some of their disappointment in the WBC by beating Australia.

In addition to pitcher Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha Eagles), Korea has pitchers Kim Hye-seong (Kiwoom Heroes, second baseman), Choi Ji-hoon (SSG Landers, center fielder), Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants, right fielder), Noh Si-hwan (Hanwha, first baseman), Moon Hyun-bin (Hanwha, left fielder)- The starting lineup consisted of Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers, third baseman), Na Seung-yeop (Lotte, designated hitter), Kim Hyeong-jun (NC Dinos, catcher), and Kim Joo-won (NC, shortstop). 스포츠토토

In response, Australia faced Liam Spence (shortstop), Aaron Whitefield (center fielder), Rickson Winggrove (first baseman), Alex Hall (catcher), Clayton Campbell (third baseman), Christopher Burke (right fielder), and Jess Williams (second baseman). -Mitchell Edwards (designated hitter) -Briley Knight (left fielder) formed the batting lineup. The starting pitcher is right-hander Brody Cooper-Vasalakis.

It was Australia’s responsibility to take the lead. 

In the first inning, he attacked Moon Dong-ju, whose control was shaken. 

Spence opened the scoring by drawing a walk. 

Whitefield then retired with a fly to second base, but Spence took advantage of the wild pitch and settled at third base.

 Afterwards, with Wingrove’s walk and Hall’s third baseman’s foul fly leading to two outs and runners on first and third base, Campbell hit a timely hit with one RBI.

Australia gained momentum and pushed Moon Dong-ju in the top of the second inning. 

After two outs, Knight hit a single to right, and Spence, the follow-up hitter, also hit to right. However, in Korea, which was in crisis, there was Yoon Dong-hee.

Dong-hee Yoon made a fantastic throw and caught Knight, who was running toward third base.

Korea, which changed the mood with Yoon Dong-hee’s throw, launched a counterattack in the bottom of the second inning.

Moon Hyun-bin’s infield hit to second base, Kim Do-young’s grounder to shortstop

Moon Hyun-bin’s force out, and Na Seung-yeop’s walk resulted in a timely hit with one RBI on first and second base with one out.

However, with bases loaded and one out due to Kim Joo-won’s walk, Kim Hye-seong (1st baseman grounder) and Choi Ji-hoon (2nd baseman grounder) were both silent and failed to score an additional point.

Korea failed to take advantage of the opportunity in the bottom of the third inning.

The opposing second baseman’s catching error on Yoon Dong-hee’s ground ball and Noh Si-hwan’s infield hit to the second baseman resulted in no outs on first and second base

but Moon Hyun-bin returned with a fly to center field. 

In addition, Kim Do-young and Na Seung-yeop, who were follow-up batters, both struck out.

Afterwards, a tense pitching battle ensued with great pitching from both teams’ pitchers, and it was Australia that broke the silence first. 

In the top of the 6th inning, leadoff hitter Hall drew a solo arch over the right field fence against Moon Dong-ju.

Korea, who had been dealt a blow, was in crisis in the top of the 7th inning. 

After one out, Spence’s infield hit to the shortstop went on a course that was difficult for fielders to catch, and Spence reached second base. 

Then, walks by Whitefield and Wingrove led to the bases being loaded with one out

but Choi Ji-min (KIA) prevented the run by leading Hall and Campbell with a fly to shortstop and a fly to right field, respectively.

Korea desperately needed a score to win, but they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity that came in the bottom of the 7th inning. 

The opposing third baseman’s catching error on Yoon Dong-hee’s base ball and Noh Si-hwan’s ground ball tied the first and second bases with one out

but Moon Hyun-bin retired with a double play by the shortstop.

Fortunately, Korea brought the game back to square one in the bottom of the 8th inning. Kim Do-young opened the scoring with a double to the left of left field.

Next, pinch hitters Park Seung-gyu (Sangmu) and Kim Hyeong-jun struck out and shortstop grounded out, respectively

but Kim Joo-won hit a timely hit with 1 RBI and called Do-young Kim, who was on third base, home.

However, it did not lead to a reversal as Kim Joo-won was immediately put in check.

Korea was in crisis again in the top of the 9th inning.

Consecutive walks by Spence and Whitefield resulted in runners on first and second base with one out.

However, Choi Seung-yong (Doosan Bears) struck out Winggrove, followed by Jeong Hae-young (KIA), who struck out the hole and did not give up any runs.

After that, no more runs were scored during the regular innings, and the game went into overtime.

According to the competition regulations, the overtime was conducted as a shootout starting with two runners.

The goddess of victory smiled on Korea in the bottom of the 10th inning as Jeong Hae-young cleanly closed the top of the 10th inning with a strikeout and double play.

Noh Si-hwan delivered a walk-off hit to left field, giving Korea a valuable victory.

Moon Dong-ju pitched 102 balls and pitched 5.2 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 home run, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 2 runs, laying the stepping stone for the team’s victory.

Next, Kim Young-gyu (NC, 0.2 innings, no runs), Shin Min-hyuk (NC, 0 innings, no runs), Choi Ji-min (0.2 innings, no runs), Choi Seung-yong (1.2 innings, no runs), and Jeong Hae-young (1.1 innings, no runs) took the mound in order.

In the batting lineup, Noh Si-hwan, the protagonist of the walk-off hit (2 hits in 4 at-bats, the game-winning record is not recorded as an official record), shined. 

In addition, Kim Joo-won (2 hits in 3 at-bats, 1 RBI) also contributed.