Eagles pitcher Weiss trusting process, teammates ahead of pivotal Korean Series start

Hanwha Eagles pitcher Ryan Weiss celebrates his team's 11-2 win over the Samsung Lions in Game 5 of the second-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, Oct. 24. Yonhap

When preparing for a high-stakes postseason game, baseball players often say they will try to treat it as if it were just another contest.

Of course, it's much easier said than done, especially when they are trying to save their team's season, like Hanwha Eagles starting pitcher Ryan Weiss this week.

Weiss will start Game 4 of the Korean Series against the LG Twins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon.

The Twins lead the best-of-seven Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship round 2-1, but the Eagles would be justified in feeling momentum is on their side after they put together a six-run rally in the eighth inning for a 7-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday.

Weiss will now try to even up the series and keep his Eagles from falling into a 3-1 hole. The 2013 Samsung Lions are the only team to have overcome that deficit to win a Korean Series championship.

Speaking with Yonhap News Agency hours before that dramatic win, Weiss said he'd been trying to follow the "treat it like another game" script.

"The more you treat it like it's the Korean Series, I think the harder it is to execute your pitches and execute at-bats," Weiss said. "I have been just trying to stay to my routine, stick to what I know works for me, and just kind of trust the process and just trust our team. I know we have a really good team. My confidence has not changed even though we're down by two games."

This will be Weiss' third outing of his first KBO postseason. He was a midseason signing last year when the Eagles missed the postseason. This year, he helped the Eagles finish with the second-best record in the regular season, behind only the Twins, and the Eagles knocked off the Samsung Lions in five games in the previous series to reach the current stage.

Weiss took the loss after allowing five earned runs on nine hits in four innings in Game 2 of that series. But in Game 5, Weiss came on in relief of starter Cody Ponce and tossed four innings of one-run ball to earn a save in the series-clinching victory.

Weiss said his first postseason run in the KBO has exceeded his expectations.

"It's a lot of fun," the pitcher said with a smile. "I know our fans really came out for that fifth game against Samsung. The fan representation we had in that game was, I think, way better than the first two games that we had. Our fans are amazing."

Weiss pitched well against the Twins in the regular season, with a 1-0 record and a 2.25 ERA in two starts, along with nine strikeouts and three walks in 12 innings combined. He served up two home runs, one each to Moon Bo-gyeong and Austin Dean.

Moon has hit safely in all three games so far this series and is batting 7-for-12 with a homer and seven RBIs, but Dean has been held hitless in 11 at-bats.

Still, Weiss said he won't take anyone lightly in the Twins lineup.

"They're a good team, man. I think they're better now than they were early on in the season," Weiss said. "And I'm excited to see how I match up again. It's going to be a big test."