KKKKKKK Sidearm Kim Yoel, one hit and no run to the Cuban Hitting Line, and two consecutive Young Bong-seung → advance to the Super Round
Sep 10, 2025
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In Game 5 of the 32nd World Youth Baseball Championship (under 18) opening round at Cellula Stadium in Okinawa, Japan, Kim Yo-el beat Cuba 3-0 with 10 strikeouts and one hit in five ⅓ innings.
The national team, led by head coach Seok Soo-chul (Gunsan Sangil High School), won its third preliminary match with the victory and confirmed its advance to the Super Round, which starts on the 11th, regardless of the result of the suspended match against South Africa scheduled for the 10th.
The Korean national team, which slammed the Italian mound in the previous day's game, started to attack the Cuban mound with Oh Jae-won (Yu Shin-go 3) as the leadoff hitter. Oh Jae-won, Um Jun-sang (Deoksu High School 2), Shin Jae-in (Yoo Shin-go 3), Kim Ji-seok (Incheon High School 3), Park Hang-gyeol (Jeonju High School 3), Ahn Ji-won (Busan High School 3), Kim Gun-hwi (Chungam High School 3), Lee Hee-sung (Wonju High School 3), and Park Ji-ho (Gunsan Sangil High School 3).
Starter Kim Yoel struck out Cuban leadoff hitter Jonathan in the first inning and lightly hit No. 2 Leandro with a grounder to third base. He allowed No. 3 Juan to get on base with a hit ball, but struck out No. 4 hitter Jordan to start the game without allowing a run.
The Korean national team took the lead by scoring the first run in the bottom of the first inning. Leading hitter Oh Jae-won opened the scoring by hitting a triple well over the height of right field against opposing starter Leandro. Oh Jae-won was thrown out by Eom Jun-sang's grounder to third base, but he got one out and second base due to third baseman's bad pitch. In the first and second bases made by Shin Jae-in's walk, Eom Jun-sang took advantage of the pitcher's wild pitch and the second baseman's error when Kim Ji-seok grounded out, and scored the first run. Then, when Park Han-yeol grounded out to second base, Shin Jae-in scored and led by two points at the beginning of the game.
Kim Yoel showed a perfect pitch from the beginning of the second inning. In the second inning, he gave up a walk in the third inning, two strikeouts, but allowed no runs, and struck out all the hitters in the fourth inning. Kim Yo-el's pitching, which struck out the leadoff batter in the fifth inning, raised expectations for the team's no-hitter following the previous game, but Cuba's No. 7 Daniel allowed a hit in front of left field. However, with the remaining innings and two outs in the sixth inning, he threw Okinawa into the charm of a Korean submarine with 10 strikeouts. Park Ji-sung (Seoul High School 3), who took the mound afterwards, also completed the team's shutout by striking out three against five batters.
In the bottom of the second inning, the batters solidified their victory by running away with Park Ji-ho's sacrifice fly to the left field from the first and third base chances made by Kim Gun-hwi's double and Lee Hee-sung's hit.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
