Seoul (Korea). Defending champion Chinese Taipei won its first game at the XXV IBAF 18U Baseball World Championship in Seoul, Korea. In the evening game at Jamsil Stadium they shut out the Czech Republic 6-0 to celebrate a successful start. The European underdog kept the score in check throughout the entire game, but failed to get on the board despite a couple of good opportunities.
Chinese Taipei started the scoring in the second inning. Chih Chieh Su (three runs in the game) led off with a triple and crossed the plate four pitches later on a groundout to short. Another run scored in the fourth on a bases loaded walk by Tsung Hsien Lee. Chia Kai provided insurance runs with a two-run single in the fifth and by scoring on a wild pitch in the eighth. Chun Hsiang Tsao forced in the sixth run with another walk with full bases in the ninth.
Ivan Aubrecht and Michal Vykoukal had two hits each for the Czech Republic. They couldn’t do much against the pitching of Chinese Taipei. Jung Hung Sen picked up the win on the mound, pitching in and out of trouble, while allowing no runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out five. Tzu Peng Huang, Cheng Hsien Lin and hard throwing right-hander Jen Ho Tseng concluded the shutout. Lukas Ercoli issued two hits, two runs (1 ER) and four walks in four innings to get charged with the loss.
