U18 Asian Youth Championship: Taiwan team defeated the Philippines 10:0 and will compete with Japan for the championship ticket tomorrow night

Zhang Yi'an. (Photo by reporter Chen Yikuan)

[Reporter Gong Naijie/Report from Taipei] The Taiwanese team was led by the "strongest two batsman" Zhang Yi'an with double hits in the first game of the Super Round Robin tonight. Wu Jierui started with 2.2 innings of good pitching, helping the team defeat the Philippines 10:0 in 5 games in advance. The Philippines will face a life-or-death battle with the Japanese team at 6:30 tomorrow night. Liu Renyou and Oda Xiangxi will stage a showdown between Taiwan and Japan. The winner will advance to the championship game and compete with the South Korean team for the championship of this U18 Asian Youth Baseball Championship.

The Taiwanese team played in the Dome for the first time. Wu Jierui broke his finger after pitching in the first inning. He still threw 2.2 innings of 6K scoreless pitches, and the number of balls was limited to 55 balls that can still be played in tomorrow's finals. He commented that his change-up ball was unstable and he only relied on straight balls to suppress him. However, he was looking forward to being on the board again on the 13th. "I hope it will be a championship game!"

The coaching team originally planned that Wu Jierui would retire within 40 pitches and rest, keeping the opportunity to be on standby tomorrow. However, after only leading 6:0 in the first two games, Taiwan team head coach Yang Xiaocheng decided to let him pitch 55 pitches, rest completely tomorrow, and be on standby again in the championship game.

Zhang Yi'an switched back to the second bat today, and scored 3 runs in a single game with a double-hit, which effectively drove the overall batting line. Yang Xiaocheng predicted that the same batting line will be used against the Japanese team tomorrow night, "Yu An will continue to play his accustomed second bat. I hope the players will respond with a normal attitude. No matter how fast the opponent's ball is, it will pass the home plate."

Zhang Yi'an. (Photo by reporter Chen Yikuan)

Taiwan starting pitcher Jerry Wu. (Photo by reporter Chen Yikuan)