Tilson Brito’s liner over a drawn-in outfield scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth as the President Lions rallied from one down in the ninth to top the La New Bears 6-5 in extra-innings at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium on Wednesday night.
Trailing 4-5 after the Bears’ Huang “Easy” Long-yi had knocked in a run with a sacrifice-fly to break a 4-4 tie in the top of the ninth, the Lions immediately responded when Liu Fu-hao drew a lead-off walk off Bears closer Jermaine Van Buren and took second on a wild pitch by the American right-hander before scoring on Kuo Dai-chi’s single up the middle to even things up and send the game into extra sessions.
The Lions pack awoke and strung together three straight singles off Van Buren in the bottom of the tenth to put the game away.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The battle of the top two squads in the league lived up to its hype as it featured four different lead changes before it was all over.
Chen Chin-fong’s RBI-single off Lions starter Lin Yueh-pin gave the visiting Bears a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the third, before the Lions answered with the equalizer an inning later on Kao Guo-ching’s liner to shallow-center that scored the runner from second. The Bears would skid ahead in the fifth with a two-run double from Shih Chih-wei, only to see the Lions counter with Brito’s league-leading tenth home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left field wall.
Huang’s solo blast in the seventh made it 4-4, and that score lasted into the ninth to set the stage for the late-game drama.
Picking up the surprising win was Lions reliever Ricky Stone, who pitched a scoreless tenth, his first of the season, while his counterpart, Van Buren, was hit with the loss for blowing the save opportunity and allowing the game-winner in the tenth.
ELEPHANTS 7, T-REX 2
The Brother Elephants avenged an embarrassing 12-2 loss to the dmedia T-Rex on Monday with a 7-2 win on Wednesday evening at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang, their fifth win in six chances.
Game MVP Chen Guan-ren scored three times on a terrific four-for-five night and Chen Huai-shan drove in four RBIs to account for the bulk for the runs for the Elephants.
Starter Tseng Jia-min was spotted a six-run lead through the third which was more than ample for the rookie hurler as he allowed just a pair of runs on six hits over five solid innings.
Taiwan won a back-and-forth match at the Unions Cup in Singapore yesterday, but the hosts claimed the trophy due to a better points differential over the tournament. Singapore’s players celebrated with the cup, despite losing a match in which they seized the lead three times, but ultimately fell to a 19-16 defeat. Their points advantage was due to their strong opening game against the other team in the competition, Thailand, who they beat 30-8 on Saturday last week. Taiwan narrowly lost to Thailand on Tuesday and went into yesterday’s match facing a steep challenge. They responded well, opening the game with sustained pressure
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
A buzz of excitement crackled through the hushed arena as the rider gripped the reins of her stuffed steed. Welcome to the strangely exacting world of hobby-horsing, the Finnish sport guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Immaculately coiffed equestrians leap athletically over fences just like in horse jumping, going as fast as they can against the clock straddling their stick steeds. Things are more stately in the dressage, with riders trotting their stick horses with intricately decorated stuffed heads before the discerning eyes of the judges. About 260 riders from 22 countries — most women and girls aged 10 to 20 —
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy