YOKOHAMA, Aug. 02 (Yonhap) – South Korea beat Israel 11-1 on Monday to reach the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics baseball tournament.
The game ended on a rule of leniency after a run produced by Kim Hye-seong in the seventh inning gave South Korea a 10-point lead.
In the semifinals on Wednesday, South Korea will face the winner of the USA-Japan match scheduled for later on Monday.
The South Koreans scored the first point at the end of the first set with a sacrifice from Lee Jung-hoo.
Two batters later, Kim Hyun-soo doubled up and Kang Baek-ho was thrown easily to score from first base.
South Korea opened a 3-0 lead in the second set, thanks to a two-run home run from Oh Ji-hwan. The shot straight to the center was Oh’s second home run of the tournament.
South Korea wasted an opportunity later in the same set and missed more chances in the third and fourth.
The missed opportunities threatened to haunt South Korea as Israel reduced the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth. But wide receiver Cho Sang-woo cleaned up the mess of the loaded bases created by Choi Won-joon and set the stage for the offensive explosion.
South Korea went on to have seven runs on five hits and two Israeli errors.
The bases remained full and Park Hae-min’s brace to left field added two more points. Kang Baek-ho followed with a two-run single that made it 8-1 for South Korea.
Two batters later, Kim Hyun-soo’s two-run homer took the South Koreans’ lead to 10-1. He then scored the last point of the game on Kim Hye-seong’s hit in the seventh inning.
