Korea holds off surprising Czechs, rebound from loss to Canada

It took them eight innings, but the real South Korean team finally showed up Monday afternoon.

A day after being upset by host Canada at the World Junior Baseball Championship, the two-time defending champions were taken to the limit by an unheralded Czech Republic squad for much of the matinee affair.

The game wasn’t decided until the Korean side sent nine men to the plate in the eighth, plating three to seal the 4-0 victory.

Right-hander Young Youn pitched eight innings of four-hit shutout ball to pace the Koreans, who improved to 2-1 and into a second-place tie with Canada in the Pool B standings.

So dominant was Youn that only two Czech runners advanced as far as second base during his time on the mound, including lead-off hitter Petr Sila who was stranded on third in the third inning.

It felt good to get back on the winning track, said Youn, adding the team is feeling the pressure to do it again.

“It’s challenging for us to keep the streak going,” You said through an interpreter. “Even though we lost the game yesterday, the guys feel that it’s a journey to win the championship. Every game we just try to do our best.”

They were almost guilty of looking beyond the Czech’s, a country where baseball has about as much visibility as hockey in Africa.

For most of the way they clung to a slender 1-0 advantage, earned in the second inning when Min Kim hit a sacrifice fly that scored Ho kim from third.

“We thought we could easily beat the Czech team,” said Korean manager Jae Ho Choi through an interpreter. “But we had trouble. Finally we scored three runs in the eighth inning.”

Choi admitted the butterflies were starting to swarm when inning after inning Czech pitchers Mark Vykoukal and Mataej Brabec kept turning the Korean batters aside, allowing just two baserunners between the third and seventh innings.

“During the first seven innings, I was a little bit nervous. But I never thought we could lose this match. I didn’t worry about it too much.”

A little scare isn’t necessarily a bad thing, he added.

“Today we had a tough game. But I think this was a good way to get ready for our players and our coaches.”

The Czechs had runners in seven of nine innings, but their best chance to score came in their final at bat. Youn, who tried to complete the shutout, left after walking pinch hitter Tomas Sykora, replaced by Hyun Choi.

Choi struck out the first two batters he face, but the Czech hitters swung at balls in the dirt and both reached, loading the bases. Choi settled in and got Ladislav Vrbsky to chop one to the pitcher, forcing pinch runner Daniel Kocour at the plate. Martin Dvorak and DavidNeveril struck out to end the game.

While the loss was upsetting, it’s not the end of the world said the Czech manager.

“We didn’t even think about the result as much as playing the game our guys can play. We tried to keep it simple. They feel better today. If we keep the errors down, we can play against any team,” Vit Dockal said.

Korea plays Cuba Tuesday at 2 p.m. on Tuesday while the Czechs will take on Netherlands at 9 a.m. Tuesday at Baseball Central 2 in a game Dockal said is key to the team’s ability to advance at the WJBC.