Ku Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School of Taipei County drew first blood in the title series of the annual High School Baseball Taiwan Championship by downing Kaohsiung County’s Kao Yuan Senior High School 5-2 in Sinjhuang on Saturday evening.
The runners-up from last year — who dropped two straight after taking the first game in the best-of-three title series to lose to Tainan’s Nan Ying Vocational High School — easily topped Kao Yuan with a potent offense that rang up 13 hits off three different pitchers, leaving them one win shy of the championship.
Ku Pao starter Chen Pin-hsueh was relieved by Pan Jeh after tossing two hitless innings because of discomfort in his throwing arm. The three-year letterman more than filled in for Chen by pitching seven strong innings of three-hit ball to guide his team past Kao Yuan.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Other than some initial jitters that allowed Kao Yuan to score their only two runs of the game in the third, Pan was nearly flawless as he retired all but two of the last 20 batters he faced to eliminate any chance of a rally.
Offensively for the victors, cleanup hitter Yang Hong-sheng’s 2-for-3 hitting with a pair of RBIs led the way, while Su Chih-hao drove in a run by belting two hits on the night.
“A win is good, but we won’t really celebrate until we win it all,” Ku Pao head coach Tsai Ming-tang said after the game.
With their backs against the wall, Kao Yuan were sending lefty Chen Sheng-nan to the mound in Game 2 last night in search of the equalizer that would force the series into a decisive final game.
CHUNG DAU 3, NATIONAL TUNG-SHIH 4
Chiayi County’s National Tung-shih Senior High School rallied for four unanswered runs in the final two innings to defeat Yilan County’s Chung Dau Senior High School 4-3 in extra innings on Saturday afternoon to close the year with a third-place finish.
Trailing 0-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Huang Liang-hsun led off the improbable comeback with a walk off Chung Dau starter Hsu Tseh-min, who had a four-hitter going before Huang Ying-da and Hong Chen-wei singled and doubled in for three runs.
Even though Hsu managed to strike out the last batter of the inning to end National Tung-shih’s scoring threat, the momentum had already shifted in favor of National Tung-shih, setting the stage for Tsai Chih-yu’s walk-off single off Chung Dau reliever Lin Tzu-han for the game-clinching run.
National Tung-shih reliever Huang Pei-yuan was credited with the win for pitching a scoreless 10th, while Yu Mu-chien from Chung Dau was tagged with the loss for allowing the extra inning.
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday poured in 35 points as the Thunder grabbed a bounce-back 118-108 victory in Portland to push their NBA-best record to 37-8. The Thunder, surprised by the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, fended off a late surge from the Trail Blazers to snap their four-game winning streak. Jalen Williams scored 24 points and Isaiah Joe added 16 off the bench. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, back after a five-game absence with a calf injury, added 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a big block. The Western Conference leaders were under pressure late as Portland, trailing by 15 heading
Sumo is walking a “tightrope” as it prepares to stage events outside Japan for the first time in 20 years while also trying to preserve its ancient traditions, experts say. The sport is to hold exhibition tournaments in London in October and in Paris in June next year, the first time the Japan Sumo Association has been abroad since Las Vegas in 2005. Sports such as soccer, baseball and football play domestic games overseas in a bid to gain new fans in emerging markets. John Gunning, a former amateur sumo wrestler who commentates on the sport in English on Japanese television, says its
Cole Perfetti on Friday scored three goals for his first NHL hat-trick as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Utah Hockey Club 5-2. Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and two assists to reach 500 points for his career, while David Gustafsson also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck had 17 saves. Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz scored for Utah, while Connor Ingram stopped 25 shots. Perfetti gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead when he lifted the puck over a fallen Ingram on a pass from Vladislav Namestnikov 5 minutes, 51 seconds into the third period. Ehlers stole the puck at his own blue line and raced down
RSS