CHANGWON, South Korea, - The NC Dinos defeated the SSG Landers 7-6 to complete a three-game sweep of their South Korean baseball postseason series Wednesday.

Jason Martin smacked a go-ahead, three-run home run to key a four-run second inning at Changwon NC Park in the southeastern town of Changwon, and five Dinos relievers held the Landers to a run over the final seven innings in Game 3 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason.

The Landers bowed out of their Korean Series title defense without winning a game in this postseason.

The Dinos will now face the No. 2 seed KT Wiz in the best-of-five second round starting Monday at the Wiz home of Suwon, just south of Seoul.

The Wiz won the 2021 Korean Series title, a year after the Dinos won their first championship.

For the third straight game in this series, the Dinos drew first blood, thanks to a pair of two-out hits.

The Dinos opened the game with two straight singles off starter Oh Won-seok, but Park Kun-woo almost bounced into a triple play after hitting a sharp grounder to third base.

After Park barely beat the throw at first base, Martin kept the inning alive with a single, putting runners at the corners.

Martin stole second base, and Kwon Hui-dong brought both runners home with a single to right field.

Seo Ho-cheol followed up with a double to left-center that cashed in Kwon, whose head-first slide home was just ahead of catcher Kim Min-sik's tag.

But the Landers rallied with a huge second inning, taking the lead for the first time this series.

They loaded the bases with two outs against starter Tanner Tully, on two singles and a walk. Guillermo Heredia drew a bases-loaded walk that pushed in a run to make it 3-1.

Choi Jeong then flipped the game on its head with one swing of the bat, launching his first career postseason grand slam to give the Landers a 5-3 lead.

It was Choi's 13th career postseason homer, putting him in a tie for second place all time.

But the lead didn't even last half an inning.

After Oh hit a batter and walked another to put two men on, the Landers summoned Noh Kyung-eun from the bullpen.

Park Kun-woo greeted him with an RBI single to bring the Dinos within a run at 5-4. Jason Martin then put the Dinos back on top with a towering three-run homer to the right field.

Now down 7-5, the Landers tried to push back in the top third, once again loading the bases on three walks - two by Tully and one by reliever Lee Jae-hak.

But no grand slam came this time, as pinch hitter Choi Ji-hoon bounced into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.

The Landers got a run back in the top fourth, with Han Yoo-seom's double off the top of the left-center fence cashing in Choi Jeong, who'd drawn a two-out walk.

Things quieted down over the next few innings, as the back-and-forth affair turned into a battle of the bullpens. Both teams stranded multiple runners to keep this a one-run game, with the Landers unable to capitalize on two walks in the seventh and the Dinos wasting a bases-loaded chance in the eighth when Martin grounded into a double play.

Nursing a one-run lead in the ninth, the Dinos summoned their slumping closer Lee Yong-chan, who'd allowed two runs in his two earlier outings of the series.

The veteran right-hander, though, was more effective this time, striking out two while retiring the side in order to lock down the narrow victory and punctuate the four-hour marathon.

"It was a tough game because we didn't add on runs after the first two innings," Dinos manager Kang In-kwon said. "But our middle relievers all did their job. I trusted those guys, and it all worked out great."

The Dinos outhit the Landers 12-6, with five hitters each recording two hits. The Dinos issued 11 walks, and the Landers handed out eight free passes.

The Dinos swept the Landers without using their No. 1 starter, Erick Fedde, a small victory in and of itself for the club. Fedde, the regular season Triple Crown winner, is recovering from a right forearm injury after getting hit by a batted ball last week.

Fedde had been initially penciled in for Wednesday's start before being ruled out late Monday night.

Kang said Fedde should be good to go Monday in the first game against the Wiz.

"Unless something happens, Fedde will start Game 1 in the next round," Kang said. "He may not be so sharp, but we have enough time off to get him ready. I think a bullpen session should get him back on track."

The Dinos have earned themselves four days off before facing the well-rested Wiz, who last played on Oct. 10 and earned a bye to the second round after posting the second-best regular season record.

"The guys are exhausted, mentally and physically," Kang said. "We'll have to recharge our batteries before the next series."

The losing manager, Kim Won-hyong, put the early elimination on himself.

"We wasted a few scoring opportunities in the first game, and as the series progressed, we ran out of gas," Kim said. "Today, we had momentum on our side after Choi Jeong's grand slam but gave it right back. Our relievers kept us in the game, but we just didn't have enough power at the end."

Left-handed reliever Kim Young-kyu was voted the series MVP after earning a win and two holds while pitching in all three games. He went 1 1/3 shutout innings in Wednesday's win.

Kim collected 37 out of 78 votes cast by media, with Martin finishing a distant second with 18 votes. Martin batted .333 with a team-best five RBIs in three games.

Source: Yonhap News Agency