Korea to take on Dominican Republic in quarterfinals

Dominican Republic players celebrate their 7-5 win over Venezuela to clinch the top seed in Pool D at the World Baseball Classic at loanDepot Park in Miami, Wednesday (local time). Reuters-Yonhap

Korea will face the mighty Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) this week.

The Dominican Republic held off Venezuela 7-5 to grab the top seed in Pool D at loanDepot park in Miami on Wednesday. It set up the quarterfinals meeting against Korea, the runner-up from Pool C, at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the same Miami stadium, or 7:30 a.m. Saturday (Korean time).

The Dominicans have been flexing their power the whole tournament. They smashed four home runs in this victory and lead the WBC with 13 home runs after four pool games.

The Dominicans have also scored the most runs in the tournament so far with 41. They are batting .313/.458/.672 as a team.

Their lineup features a who's who in Major League Baseball (MLB), with names like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Manny Machado. Every player in Wednesday's starting lineup had at least 20 homers in MLB last season.

Korea is tied with three other countries with nine home runs allowed.

The Dominican pitching has held opponents to a .187 batting average and has allowed 10 runs in four games. Korea is batting .243/.333/.463 as a team with seven home runs.

The other quarterfinals matchups are Canada versus the United States on Friday at Daikin Park in Houston, Puerto against Italy on Saturday in Houston and Venezuela against Japan, the defending champion, on Saturday in Miami.