Yang Yaocheng started the third place game and was inspired by Huang Tianci to embark on the baseball path

Yang Yaocheng. (File photo)

[Reporter Luo Zhipeng/Reporting from Taipei] In the 14th U18 Asian Youth Baseball Championship, the host Taiwan lost to Japan 1:2 yesterday and missed the championship. Today at 6:30 pm in the Dome, Japan will face South Korea in the championship game. On the same day, Taiwan will play the third place match with the Philippines at 1:30 pm.

Today in the third place match against Taiwan, the Taiwanese team will start right-hander Yang Yao-cheng from Gu Bao Jiashang, while the starting pitcher from the Philippines will be Casula. In this tournament, Yang Yao-cheng pitched 1 game. In the preliminaries, he started 2 innings against Thailand and went 5K without a hit or score, regardless of victory or defeat. His fastest ball speed of 152 kilometers soared to the best data in his career.

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Yang Yaocheng, who is from Kaohsiung, frequently reached speeds of over 140 kilometers during his youth baseball days. He attracted the attention of foreign professional baseball scouts and may have the opportunity to develop abroad in the future. In an interview with this newspaper in the past, Yang Yaocheng revealed that his decision to embark on the path of baseball was related to Unified Lions infielder Huang Tianci, "Because Huang Tianci won the U12 World Cup when he played in the U12 World Cup. I watched the TV broadcast and thought he was very good. He later started playing baseball. It was because of him that he embarked on this path of no return!"

Huang Tianci has played in the U12 World Cup, U15 World Cup, U18 World Cup, and U18 Asian Youth Championship. He has rich experience in international competitions. Last year, he graduated from Pingzhen High School and entered the draft and was named in the fifth round of the Unified Lions.