By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
South Korea punched a ticket to Beijing by pulling off its fifth straight win in the Olympic baseball qualifiers with a 12-1 drubbing of Germany at the Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan.
With host Taiwan (4-1) defeating Australia (2-3) 5-0 in Wednesday's other fixture, the men in blue confirmed their spot in what will be the last Olympic baseball tournament, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voting to remove the sport from the program for the 2012 Games, unless reinstated at a future date.
Taiwan and Canada (4-1) are likely to join South Korea in the Summer Games after emerging in the eight-team playoffs _ also featuring Spain, South Africa and Mexico _ which guaranteed three spots at the Beijing tournament. The United States, Cuba, the Netherlands and Japan secured Olympic berths through their regional qualifiers last year.
The Koreans face Canada today and will finish the tournament against Taiwan on Friday in what is now a formality.
``I am happy that we achieved our goal of making the Olympics. Stronger teams, such as the U.S. and Japan, will be waiting for us in the tournament and we need to improve as a squad to compete with them,'' said South Korea manager Kim Kyung-moon.
``Canada is also a team we could meet in Beijing, so it would be great to beat them now and gain a mental edge. I will use my best starter, Ryu Hyun-jin, against them," he said.
Yomiuri Giants slugger Lee Seung-yeop, who had nine RBIs in his previous four games, extended his monstrous streak by going 2 for 3 with three RBIs against the Germans.
South Korea starter Son Min-han, a Lotte Giants veteran, gave up one run over six innings and struck out six to secure his second win of the tournament.
The offensive onslaught in Wednesday's rout likely would've been greater if not for the tournament's mercy rule that allows games to be called if one team is ahead by more than 10 runs after seven innings.
South Korea opened its account in the first inning, with leadoff hitter Lee Yong-kyu reaching first on a single up the middle and advancing to third on a steal and a balk by German starter Tim Henkenjohann.
Yong-kyu scored on an infield single by Ko Young-min and Lee Dae-ho brought home Ko with a RBI single to make it 2-0.
After Son gave up a solo home run to Germany's Donald Lutz in the following inning, South Korea responded with another run in the bottom of the second, capitalizing on consecutive wild pitches by Henkenjohann.
South Korea put away the game with a six-run fourth inning. With the bases loaded with no outs, Korea scored on a walk by Ko. Seung-yeop followed with an RBI single to right field that brought home Kim Ju-chan and Yong-kyu.
Dae-ho then added an RBI single, and Jin Kap-yong lashed a liner to right that brought home two more runners.
South Korea added another run in the fifth to complete the rout.