Seoul: South Korea routed the Czech Republic 11-1 on Sunday for its second straight victory in a baseball exhibition series in Seoul. South Korea erupted for 17 hits in front of a sellout crowd of 16,100 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, a day after managing just five hits in a 3-0 win over the European team. South Korea will travel to Tokyo to play Japan next Saturday and Sunday at Tokyo Dome. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) scheduled these games to help the national team prepare for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) next March. South Korea, the Czech Republic, and Japan will all play in Pool C at the WBC, alongside Australia and Chinese Taipei.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea scored the first run via Moon Bo-gyeong's RBI groundout in the top of the third inning. Ahn Hyun-min hit a one-out single and stole second, before taking third on a wild pitch by starter Tomas Ondra. Moon then cashed him in with a groundout to first. Shin Min-jae's two-out single put South Korea up 2-0 in the top fourth, as the leadoff man sent a roller up the middle with runners at the corners.
The Czechs fought back with a run in the bottom fifth against reliever Kim Seo-hyeon, who struggled late in the regular season and again in the postseason for the Hanwha Eagles last month. Kim issued a couple of walks and then surrendered an RBI single to Milan Prokop. Kim's Eagles teammate, Jeong Woo-joo, put out the fire by striking out Willie Escala.
South Korea then pulled ahead with four runs in the top sixth. Cho Hyeong-woo opened with a single, and Kim Seong-yoon followed up with a double, with Cho scoring and Kim taking third base thanks to an errant throw by center fielder Marek Krejcirik. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Roh Si-hwan drew a six-pitch walk against reliever Tomas Duffek. Moon Hyun-bin then knocked in two more runs with a single that extended South Korea's lead to 6-1.
South Korea tacked on five more runs in the top ninth. Lee Jae-won launched a two-run homer as the opening salvo, before Moon Bo-gyeong, Han Dong-hee, and Moon Hyun-bin each smacked an RBI double. Kim Seo-hyeon was the only South Korean pitcher to allow a run over these two games over the Czechs. For Sunday, starter Oh Won-seok gave South Korea two shutout innings with three strikeouts, and Lee Min-seok followed up with two scoreless innings of his own. After relieving Kim, Jeong Woo-joo recorded three strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings. Bae Chan-seung, Seong Yeong-tak, and Kim Young-woo each tossed a scoreless inning.