Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan's two-run home run in the top of the ninth broke a 6-all tie for Team Taiwan as it beat the President Lions 8-7 in exhibition action on Friday.
The veteran long ball slugger who is no stranger to playing the hero in international competition with notable contributions in last year's Baseball World Cup and the Asian Baseball Championship, held nothing back in crushing an offering from Lions reliever Lin Yueh-ping over the right-field wall for an opposite-field blast to give his team its first lead on the night at 8-6.
Even though the home Lions answered with a run of their own off Team Taiwan closer Luo Jia-ren after loading up the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, Luo got a key double play from his infield to collect two quick outs before retiring the final Lions batter with a game-ending strikeout to earn the victory.
singles and doubles
While the Lions relied on a slew of singles and doubles to score their runs, Team Taiwan used three homers to plate seven of the eight runs on the night, starting with Lin Tseh-hsuen's two-run shot in the top of the fifth that brought the national squad to within a run of the Lions at 3-4, Lin Chih-sheng's three-run blast that tied the game up at 6-all in the eighth, before the Prince's two-run dinger put his team ahead.
"It was quite a relief for the hitters to finally come around, given the lack of run production we've experienced over the first three games," Team Taiwan head coach Hong Yi-chung said after the game, referring to Team Taiwan's recent games.
Needing little time to get to Team Taiwan starter Cheng Kai-wen, the Lions drew first blood in the bottom of the first when Kuo Dai-chi doubled off Cheng and scored on a grounder up the middle on the ensuing play to grab an early 1-0 lead.
Australian
Team Taiwan countered with a run in the third off Lions starter Gregory Wiltshire of Australia to even things up at 1-1, only to see Cheng allow two more runs to cross in the bottom of the same inning with three straight base hits and another run in the fourth to trail the Lions 1-4 in a disappointing performance.
Both teams traded a pair of runs in the fifth to keep the Lions lead at 6-3 over the next two innings before Lin Chih-sheng's three-run blast forced the third tie in the game at 6-6 to set the stage for Chang's ninth-inning magic.
Earning the win for Team Taiwan with three innings of perfect relief, including six strikeouts, was left-hander Nee Fu-deh who entered the game in the sixth trailing 3-6 and kept the Lions off the board through the eighth to give his offense a chance to rally from behind.
As for the Lions, the shaky effort by the bullpen masked a solid start from Wiltshire which brought praise from skipper Lu Wen-sheng.
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