WBC / Taiwan's hopes of advancing in WBC rise after extra-inning win over S. Korea

Taipei, March 8 (CNA) Taiwan is maintaining high hopes that its national men's baseball team will advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinals after clinching a key 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday.

Boosted by three home runs -- two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild -- the triumph gave Team Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, a much-needed second victory in the five-team Group C, where only the top two finishers will advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida.

Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan managed to score a run in the top of the 10th inning to take a 5-4 lead.

Closer Tseng Jyun-yue (曾峻岳) then took the mound and sealed the victory with three quick outs.

Before Sunday's match, Taiwan -- whose sole win in the group came from crushing the Czech Republic 14-0 in a mercy-rule victory on Saturday -- needed to beat South Korea on Sunday while hoping Japan would defeat Australia later that day, with South Korea then going on to beat Australia on Monday.

Only under this scenario -- in which Taiwan, South Korea, and Australia would all finish with 2-2 records in Group C -- could Taipei hope that the WBC tiebreaker rules would work in its favor.