Kim Tae-hyun (19, Gwangju Jeil High School), the only high school student pitcher on the Korean national baseball team under the age of 23, blocked Japan with a no-hitter through the fourth inning. Although he became the losing pitcher by giving two runs due to his defensive errors in the fifth inning, his performance displayed his potential. The Lotte Giants have high expectations on Kim as the fourth overall pick in the first round.
The under-23 baseball team, led by Kyung Hee University head coach Choi Tae-won, lost 1-2 to Japan in the final game of the 5th World Baseball Championship (under 23) Super Round at Shaoxing Baseball Softball Sports Culture Center in China on the 14th (Korea time).
Starting pitcher Kim Tae-hyun blocked Ryu with a no-hitter until the fourth inning, allowing one hit, five walks, four strikeouts and two runs (no earned run) in four innings, but lost the game. Ryu Hyun-jun played in two at-bats, including a double, with two hits and one out.
Korea, which came in fifth with one win and four losses overall in the Super Round, ended the tournament by failing to advance to the third place final. Japan, which has four wins and one loss, will advance to the final and compete with Puerto Rico for the championship on Saturday.
South Korea’s lineup was in the order of Kim Hyun-jong (center fielder), Song Ho-jung (third baseman), Jeong Dae-sun (designated hitter), Kim Si-ang (possessor), Ryu Hyun-jun (first baseman), Choi Sung-min (right fielder), Kim Doo-hyun (fielders), Kim Jin-hyung (left fielder) and Hong Dae-in (second baseman).
The starting pitcher is Kim Tae-hyun, left-hander of Gwangju Jeil High School, the only high school student in this competition. Kim Tae-hyun, a promising 185-centimeter-tall prospect who threw a maximum speed of 147 kilometers per hour, was selected by Lotte as the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft held on the 11th. In this competition, he showed why he was selected as the top player by pitching three games (nine ⅔ innings) with seven hits, eight walks, 13 strikeouts and three runs (one earned run) with an ERA of 0.93.
After allowing one run with five hits, no outs and five strikeouts in three ⅔ innings against Taiwan on the 6th, and two strikeouts in two innings against Venezuela on the 9th, the match between Korea and Japan also beat the referee’s narrow strike zone and blocked the Japanese batters with no hit until the 4th inning. Japanese batters were also stuck due to their sharp fastballs. 안전놀이터
Kim Tae-hyun, who gave up a walk to Takuya Yamada in the bottom of the first inning, struck out Ura Kazuhiro with a fly ball to center field and Yuichiro Murakami with a swing and miss, and took two outs. He allowed a walk to Taishi Noguchi, facing a crisis with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, but finished the first inning after handling Takahashi Takanori with a fly ball to right field.
In the bottom of the second inning, Kim ended the game with three outs and three outs by hitting a fly ball to the center field, striking out Shinoske Nishimura, and grounding Aiba Kantar to the third base, giving up a walk to Takuma Hayashi in the bottom of the third inning. However, after catching Yamada with a fly ball to the center field, Kim Si-ang, catcher, blocked him from stealing the second base, which helped him secure defense.
Kim finished the bottom of the third inning by striking out Ura swinging, and threw a fly ball to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning, before sending Noguchi on a walk, but Kim once again blocked him from stealing second base. Encouraged by the strikeout, Kim roared, striking out Takahashi swinging.
It was regrettable to see off the bottom of the fifth inning. Kim allowed Nishimura to hit a left-handed hit, breaking the no-hitter. While throwing the ball to the second base, Kim made a bad pitch, sending the ball to the second and third bases with no outs. After being shaken, Kim was substituted after giving up a walk to Ivar. He threw a total of 74 pitches.
With the bases loaded with no outs, left-hander Song Jae-young was deployed. Lotte’s left-hander Song Jae-young allowed Hayashi to tie the game after hitting a timely hit to the right. He handled Yamada to the left field, but when Ura grounded out to the shortstop, the third baseman came home, leading Japan to come from behind to win 2-1. The game’s closing point. Song struck out Murakami and ended the bottom of the fifth inning with three outs and one strikeout. Song pitched well in two innings, one hit, two strikeouts and no run.
However, the Korean team remained silent with one run. The only score that Ryu gave was the first run in the top of the second inning. After Ryu Hyun-joon had a hit to the right with one out in the top of the second inning, Korea had a chance to garner the first and third bases with one out thanks to Choi Sung-min’s hit to the right, but Kim Doo-hyun’s sacrifice fly to center field allowed no additional run until the seventh inning.
Ryus last attack was regrettable at the bottom of the seventh inning. After Ryu hit a double to the left, Choi Seong-min
s sacrifice bunt gave him a chance to hit the third base with one out, but third baseman Jeong An-seok was out of the game when Kim Doo-hyun made a squeeze bunt. It seemed like a safe timing, but the request for a video review showed that he was out. Unfortunately, Kim Jin-hyung was out by one point as he was out after hitting a fly ball to the left field with two outs and runners on the first base.