[Baseball] Korea Goes 4-0 in Olympic Qualifiers

Key members of the national baseball team sat out yesterday’s Olympic qualifier versus Spain, but this had little effect on the game’s result.

Korea cruised to a 14-5 victory at Touliu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan for its fourth straight victory in Olympic qualifiers. Korea is now 4-0 in qualifiers, while Spain is 1-3.

Korean hitters racked up 16 hits and scored in every inning except the second and ninth. Ko Young-min went 3-4 at the plate and Kim Joo-chan hit 4-4 with one run batted in.

With a 2-0 lead after three innings, the Koreans erupted for five runs in the fourth, taking advantage of four hits, two walks and an error.

With Korea leading 8-4 in the sixth, Lee Jong-wook stole second after getting to first on a walk. Ko stole second with two outs and came home thanks to an RBI by Kim.

The score was 11-5 in the eighth, when Lee Seong-yeop, playing pinch hitter, hit a two-run home run. He has hit safely in all four of his team’s games with two homers.

Pitcher Kim Sun-woo, however, was disappointing in his first start in the qualifiers, allowing four earned runs and seven hits in five innings. He was replaced by Woo Kyu-min in the sixth.

Korea will play Germany Wednesday in Taiwan after taking a one-day break.

beetlez@donga.com