Ryu Jung-il’s Premier12 side’s chances of reaching the top four on their own are gone. However, it’s still possible. South Korea will need help from Cuba and Australia to reach the Super Round (quarterfinals) in Tokyo, Japan.

Through 16 days, South Korea has a 2-2 record. They lost to Chinese Taipei and Japan, and won against Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Japan leads the group with three wins and Taiwan is second with two wins and one loss. Australia (1-2) and Cuba (1-2) are tied for fourth and the Dominican Republic (1-3) is last.

South Korea pulled off a dramatic 9-6 come-from-behind victory over the Dominican Republic in the fourth game of their Group B match at the WBSC Premier12 2024 on Saturday at Tianmu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan.

It was a come-from-behind 9-6 victory after falling behind 0-6. Starter Lim Chan-kyu was pulled after three innings and four runs, followed by Cho Min-joon (one run in one inning) and Cho Byung-hyun (two runs in 1⅔ innings).

Trailing 0-6 in the sixth inning,

The team took advantage of an error by pitcher Ak Song-gu and back-to-back doubles by Park Dong-won and Moon Bo-kyung to make it 4-6. The big inning of the ‘Promised Eighth’ turned the game around. With runners on first and third, Park Sung-yi hit a two-run triple to make it 5-6. Choi Won-jun and Hong Chang-ki followed with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 9-6. Kim Seo-hyun (1⅓ scoreless innings), Choi Ji-min (⅓ scoreless innings) and Park Young-hyun (1⅔ scoreless innings) combined for the win.

South Korea’s chances of advancing to the Super Round (quarterfinals) are slim, but they remain. In order to advance, South Korea must finish second in their group ahead of Chinese Taipei. There are only two ways for South Korea to advance to the quarterfinals, 파워볼사이트 assuming they win their final group game against Australia on April 18.

One is for Taiwan to lose both their remaining games against Australia and Cuba. The other option is for Cuba to win both its remaining games against Japan and Chinese Taipei, leaving Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Cuba in a three-way tie for second place with TQB.

Chinese Taipei will face Australia at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.

If Australia defeats Chinese Taipei, a miracle will be required in the final game on the 18th. Conversely, if Taiwan beats Australia and Japan beats Cuba on Sunday, South Korea will be eliminated early, regardless of the outcome of the remaining matches. Fateful day.

Australia’s starting pitcher against Chinese Taipei is Mitch Nunborn, 27. He is a right-handed pitcher in the minor leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies. Nunborn played in the Australian League before coming to the United States in 2023. Last year, he went 3-4 with a 3.38 ERA in 16 games (10 starts) at Single-A. This year, he went 2-1 with a 5.32 ERA in 15 games (one start) at Double-A, and 5-5 with a 2.39 ERA in 14 starts at Single-A.

Nunborn pitched well against South Korea in last year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan, where he pitched the third inning behind starter O’Rorklin to give South Korea a 1-0 lead. Nunborn struck out Choi Jung and Yang Ji and Na Sung-beom followed with back-to-back flyouts to left field to end the inning.

In the fourth,

He struck out Tommy Edman, got Kim Ha-seong to fly out to third base, and got Lee Jung-hoo to fly out to center field. In the fifth inning, Park Byung-ho led off with a single straight to second base. He gave up a walk to Kim Hyun-soo and was replaced by Park Gun-woo, who singled to left to put runners on first and second. Nunborne pitched well until reliever Daniel McGraph gave up a three-run home run to Yang Ji with runners on first and second, giving Nunborne two runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Nunborn has pitched one game in the Premier12. He pitched one inning of relief against Japan on Aug. 13, when Australia used 12 pitchers on bullpen day, allowing one run on two hits. Down 0-2 in the third inning, Nunborn was the fourth pitcher to enter the game and gave up a run on a wild pitch with runners on second and third. With Nunborne’s experience as a starter, if he can pitch as many innings as he can without allowing an earned run, Australia’s chances of winning will improve.