Nat'l baseball team squeezes past minor league club in scrimmage
Korean reliever Park Yeong-hyun pitches against Sangmu during a scrimmage ahead of the Asian Games baseball tournament at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
NAGOYA, Japan — The Asian Games-bound national baseball team narrowly avoided a loss to a minor league club in a scrimmage in Seoul on Thursday.
Managed by Ryu Ji-hyun, Korea beat the military club Sangmu 7-6 in an unofficial, eight-inning game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
The national team is made up of stars from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Sangmu plays in the second-tier Futures League.
Manager Ryu sent eight of his 11 pitchers to the mound, each throwing around 30 pitches. Three starters, Gwak Been, Choi Min-seok and So Hyeong-jun, did not see action.
Two left-handers struggled, with Oh Won-seok giving up four hits and two runs in one inning, while Bae Chan-seung surrendered four runs on five hits while retiring just one batter.
On the other hand, six other pitchers all put up zeroes on the board.
Korea trailed 6-3 entering the eighth inning, and it had runners at first and second to simulate an extra-inning situation at the Asian Games.
From there, Korea scored four runs, thanks to hits by Park Jun-soon and Kim Gun-hee.
The national team is scheduled to leave for Nagoya on Friday and start the competition on Monday with a 6:30 p.m. game against Chinese Taipei, considered the biggest threat to Korea's quest for its fifth consecutive gold medal.