"Hit → triple → final three-run explosion" Korea Tower also smiled at the Korean solver, saying, "Tokyo Dome is still touching... "You're the main character again today" [Okinawa Station]

*This content was translated by AI.

NC Dinos' Kim Joo-won (24) has emerged as Ryu Ji-hyun's troubleshooter.

The Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun (55), beat the Hanwha Eagles 5-2 in its second practice game against the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) at Kochinda Baseball Stadium in Yase, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan on the 21st.

The national team struggled in the beginning with a total of seven hits against Hanwha in the game, which even led to the attack in the top of the seventh inning. Despite being the ninth batter, Kim Joo-won set the table as much as the table setter with three hits in three at-bats (one home run) and three RBIs and two runs.

Kim Joo-won, who reported a right-handed hit in his first at-bat, came out as a leadoff hitter in the sixth inning when the national team was losing 0-2, and hit a strong right-field hit to Kang Jae-min. Jonathan Ferraza failed to catch the ball, and Kim Joo-won headed to third base, and a triple was given. Ahn Hyun-min's grounder toward second base later homered, and the three subsequent batters tied the game 2-2 with consecutive hits.

It wasn't the end here. Hwang Jun-seo, who came up in the seventh inning, gave up a series of walks, and the first and second bases with no outs were set in front of Kim Joo-won. Kim Joo-won strongly hit Hwang Jun-seo's low 143km/h fastball and crossed the left fence. It was a three-run final to make a 5-2 upset.

After the victory, national team coach Ryu Ji-hyun said, "The balance improved as hitters entered the third at-bat in the second half of the game. I'm happy that I'm excited that the hitting will increase in the rest of the game."

"Overall, Moon Bo-kyung and Kim Joo-won looked very good in hitting." They are the players who should be in the starting lineup, but the way they look for their senses made me look forward to the next one," he said with a smile.

Although these are practice matches, it is Kim Ju-won who has emerged as Ryu Ji-hyun's Cinderella with his decisive performances every time. Kim Joo-won saved South Korea from the brink of defeat by hitting a dramatic tying solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs in the second game against Japan in the K-baseball series at Tokyo Dome in November last year.

Director Ryu Ji-hyun, who recalled this, said, "The emotion at that time still remains with me. But today again, he became the main character at the last minute. I could expect good results in the future," he said, expressing his gratitude.

It was also encouraging to check the pitchers' good physical condition. Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned to the national team for the first time in 16 years, blocked his former team's Hanwha lineup with two perfect innings (18 pitches) with a slow fastball of up to 141 kilometers per hour. Ryu Hyun-jin will play in the WBC stage for the first time in 17 years after playing one more practice game.

Manager Ryu Ji-hyun said, "It was very encouraging that Ryu Hyun-jin made a calculated pitch. The speed seems to be about 141km/h, and I would like to praise that the ball's movement was very good. The movement is good, so the batters were deceived by the change-up," he praised.

In fact, Ryu Hyun-jin comforted the coaches in a situation where the team's atmosphere could be down (injury). I was very trusting as a director by saying, "It's okay, we just have to stick together."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.