By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter

The Kia Tigers have claimed their 10th Korean Series title to establish themselves as the most prestigious team again in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

The Gwangju-based team defeated the two-time reigning champion SK Wyverns 6-5 on Na Ji-wan's walk-off solo shot in the ninth inning of Game 7 Sunday to clinch the championship.

It is the team's first trophy since 1997, when the Haitai Tigers, the forerunner of the Kia Tigers, last triumphed.

The predecessor was the most dominant club in the league, going a perfect 9-0 in the championship series.

In addition, the Tigers now have 10 championships ― the most in the league and well ahead of the runners-up Samsung Lions and the now defunct Hyundai Unicorns, which have four.

However, it took the Tigers a long time to return to their old fame.

The Asian economic crisis hit the club in the 1990s causing key players from its championship teams to depart for more lucrative deals.

Right-hander Sun Dong-yeol, who notched 146 wins and 132 saves with a 1.20 ERA in 11 seasons, and Lee Jong-beom, who then played shortstop and was a two-time Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP), left for the Chunichi Dragons in 1995 and 1997, respectively.

To make the Tigers' situation worse, they watched pitchers Lee Kang-chul, Cho Gye-hyun and Lim Chang-yong, and fielders Lee Soon-chul and Hong Hyun-woo bolting for free agency.

Carmaker, Kia Motors, took over in 2001 and started rebuilding the team.

The Tigers brought back Lee Jong-beom and Lee Kang-chul, and landed the likes of high-profile free agents Jin Phil-joong, Park Jae-hong and Ma Hae-young. And they recruited former Major Leaguers Seo Jae-weong and Choi Hee-seop.

They did not immediately advance to the Korean Series, but it was a silver lining when the team reached the second round of the playoffs in 2002 and 2003.

The Tigers also played in the first round playoffs in 2004 and 2006.

Although the Tigers fell to the bottom of the league standings for the first time in franchise history in both 2005 and 2007, their efforts were on full display to revive their former glory and they reaped the crop this season.

Young players such as Yoon Suk-min, Yang Hyung-jong, Lee Yong-kyu, An Chi-hong and Na stepped up for the team; Kim Sang-hyun, acquired from the Twins in April, and Choi Hee-seop added big strokes that the team had missed; competitive foreign pitchers Aquilino Lopez and Rick Guttormson, who combined for 27 victories this season, were the best one-two punch in the KBO; and Lee Jong-beom and Lee Dae-jin, who are past their prime, provided a veteran poise to the Tigers, which came together en route to their 10th championship.

In Game 7, the Wyverns jumped on Guttormson as Park Jung-kwon hit a two-run homer in the fourth and he drove in another run in the fifth to make it 3-0.

The Tigers, which did not put any runner on base through four innings due to Gary Glover, who carried a perfect pitching into the fifth inning, cut the deficit to 3-1 as Choi Hee-seop singled and scored on Ahn Chi-hong's single up the middle.

The Incheon-based team extended its lead to 5-1 in the sixth as it closed in on a three-peat.

But the nine-time champion Tigers tied the game on Na's two-run dinger off reliever Lee Seung-ho in the sixth, and Ahn's solo homer and Kim Won-sub's RBI single in the seventh. In the ninth, Na lofted a 3-2 pitch from reliever Chei Byung-yong to the left-field seats to end the hard-fought rubber match, where both teams sent a combined 15 pitchers to the mound.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr