Seoul: South Korea hammered Cuba 13-3 on Saturday in its second tuneup game before an international baseball tournament set for later this month. South Korea pounded out 14 hits for the comfortable win in front of a sellout crowd of 16,100 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in the second of two exhibition games against Cuba.
According to Yonhap News Agency, these two games were part of South Korea’s preparation for the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament. Both South Korea and Cuba are in Group B along with Japan, Australia, the Dominican Republic, and Chinese Taipei, the host country for the preliminary stage from Nov. 13 to 18. The top two teams from Groups A and B will advance to the Super Round, which will be played in Tokyo from Nov. 21 to 24.
South Korea won the inaugural Premier12 title in 2015 and finished second to Japan in 2019. South Korea manager Ryu Joong-il plans to take a young team, made up mostly of players in their early- to mid-20s, with an eye toward the 2026 World Baseba
ll Classic and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Ryu is expected to make his final seven cuts from the training camp roster early next week.
South Korea won Friday’s game over Cuba by 2-0, with eight pitchers combining for a three-hit shutout. The second game was a far different affair, with South Korea recording eight extra-base hits and Cuba piecing together 11 hits. Yoon Dong-hee put South Korea on the board with a solo home run off Raymond Figueredo in the top of the second inning.
Cuba tied things up with Yoelquis Guibert’s solo shot off Ko Young-pyo, South Korea’s second pitcher, in the bottom third. But South Korea responded right away with three runs in the top fourth, which featured Park Seong-han’s RBI double, Hong Chang-ki’s RBI single, and a run-scoring double by Song Sung-mun. Nursing a 5-3 lead through seven innings, South Korea pulled away with an eight-run explosion in the top eighth.
After Na Seung-yeup’s single made it a 6-3 game, South Korea added three quick runs after loading the bases. S
outh Korea loaded the bases again later in the inning, and Shin Min-jae and Choi Won-jun each drove in two runs for a 13-3 lead. Starter Choi Seung-yong tossed two shutout innings for South Korea, and six relievers covered the final seven frames while scattering eight hits. South Korea is scheduled to depart for Taipei City on Friday.