Chinese Taipei, Japan advance at Asian Baseball Championship

Chinese Taipei, Japan advance at Asian Baseball Championship

TAIPEI (Agencies): Both Chinese Taipei and Japan advanced
Tuesday, the second day of the 21st Asian Baseball Championship
in Taipei, defeating the Philippines and Indonesia, respectively.

Japan thrashed Indonesia 17-0 and ended the game in the sixth
innings. Indonesia was competing in the tournament for the first
time.

Japanese pitcher Toshiya Sugiuchi, who pitched at the Sydney
Olympic Games, earned the win by striking out eight Indonesian
hitters, while two other Japanese pitchers struck out seven other
Indonesians.

Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei demonstrated superior power by
defeating the Philippines 16-2. This was second defeat recorded
by the Philippine squad in two days of competition.

Philippine pitcher Ernesto Binaro completely blocked out
theattack of the host Chinese Taipei team in the first three
inningsputting the team into the lead and surprising the Taiwan
team.

Pitcher Tseng Chao-yang substituted for Chuang Hong-liang and
stopped the Philippine attack at the beginning of the third
inning and Chinese Taipei scored its first point in the bottom of
the third.

Chen Yuan-chia of Chinese Taipei hit the first home run of the
tournament in the bottom of the fourth and scored a total of
eight points.

Chinese Taipei scored another five points in the bottom of the
fifth and Wang Shih-hua hit a two-point home run in the bottom of
the sixth to chalk up 16 points for the host team.

The game ended in the seventh inning.

Chinese Taipei and Japan lead the leaderboard with two wins
meanwhile Indonesia sits in the bottom with one defeat.

On Wednesday, the Philippines will meet Indonesia and Korea
will play Japan.