Korea wins Pool A in World Baseball Classic

World Baseball Classic - Pool A
Korea takes top seed

Chan Ho Park
Chan Ho Park
Tokyo, Japan (Sports Network) - Seung-Yeop Lee hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning and Chan Ho Park closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning, as Korea finished unbeaten in Pool A play with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

With the victory, Korea claimed the top seed in Pool A and will travel to Anaheim for the second round of the Classic. It will meet the top seed from Pool B (United States, Canada, Mexico or South Africa) next Sunday. Japan also advanced to the next round as the second seed and will play the corresponding seed from Pool B.

In a battle of two teams that rely on pitching, the Pool A finale was determined by one swing of the bat. Jong Beom Lee drilled a one-out single off left-handed relief pitcher Hirotoshi Ishii (0-1) then Seung-Yeop Lee clubbed a hanging breaking ball into the right field seats to give Korea the one-run advantage.

The bullpen, led by Park, made the lead stick. Dae-Sung Koo (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory.

No player on either side recorded more than one hit as the theme of dominant pitching in Pool A continued. Korea scattered just five hits -- three from the top three men in the order -- and relied on its pitching to keep them in the game.

Japan posted runs in the first two innings to seize a 2-0 advantage, then Korea trimmed the deficit in half during the fifth inning. Jin Man Park singled, advanced to second after In Sung Cho was drilled by a Shunsuke Watanabe pitch, scampered to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Watanabe pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits while striking out one batter. Sun-Woo Kim struggled in the start for Korea, giving up two runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings, however the bullpen pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the victory.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=wbc/2006/pool.aspx?p=A
(EB)