By Yoon Chul
Korea Times Intern
The SK Wyverns became the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)'s regular-season champions for the second year in a row with a 2-1 victory over the Kia Tigers Sunday in Incheon.
By clinching the regular-season title, the Wyverns, who improved their record to 77-37, qualified for the Korean Series.
``My players brought me another triumph,'' Wyverns manager Kim Sung-keun said. ``I am only part of the team. That made this present meaningful. Now, we are going to earn our second Korean Series victory.''
The Wyverns became the fourth team to finish first in the regular-season standings two straight years. The Samsung Lions won three consecutive regular-season titles from 1985 to 1987 and two straight titles in 2005 and 2006. The Haitai Tigers won back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997, and the Hyndai Unicorns won consecutive titles in 2003 and 2004.
The Wyverns have been in first place for the last 155 days, dating back to an 11-2 win on April 20 against the Doosan Bears, who are currently in a battle with the Lotte Giants for second place.
Wyverns ace Kim Kwang-hyun pitched six scoreless innings Sunday with three strikeouts and allowed only one hit. He improved his record to 15-4, giving him the most wins in the league this season. His ERA dropped to 2.55, which is second in the league behind the Tigers' Yoon Suk-min with a 2.44 ERA.
Kim is also second in the KBO in strikeouts with 130, putting him four behind the Hanhwa Eagles' Ryu Hyun-jin.
Kim said his goal is to win a triple crown by leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
``As we achieved the season's championship, I am going to focus on a triple crown,'' Kim said.
The Wyverns' Choi Jeong hit a solo home run against Tigers reliever Lim Jun-hyuk.