Thank you, and thank you so much! Ryu Ji-hyun praised Ryu Hyun-jin for "retirement from the national university." "I wanted to go to the national university and really did my best until the end"

*This content was translated by AI.

Korean Monster Ryu Hyun-jin (39, Hanwha Eagles), who dominated an era of Korean baseball, will put down the friendly Taegeuk mark for the first time in 20 years. Ryu Ji-hyun (55), the coach of the national team, praised the ace's final game, which has been silently guarding the mound.

The South Korean national team suffered a cold game defeat in the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) against the Dominican Republic at 7:30 a.m. on the 14th (Korea Standard Time) at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida.

In many ways, it was a game that showed a wide level of difference. The opponent was the Dominican Republic, which is full of major league superstars. Although he suffered a cold game defeat, his opponent showed such overwhelming performance. Ryu Hyun-jin, the starting pitcher for the national team, became a losing pitcher with three hits, two walks, one strikeout and three runs in one ⅔ inning. Still, he got off to a good start in the first inning by catching three outs, but the leadoff batter's walk in the second inning became a source of concern and was replaced without completing two innings. It eventually led to a losing pitcher.

Coach Ryu Ji-hyun, who held an official press conference as a leader after the game, expressed his sincere heart, saying, "I want to say thank you first of all," when he mentioned Ryu Hyun-jin, who announced his retirement from the national team.

Manager Ryu highly evaluated Ryu Hyun-jin's sincerity toward the national team. "Since taking over as the national coach in February 205, Hyun-jin has been steadily wanting to play for the national team," he said. "He has been exemplary in all aspects, not only in terms of his performance but also in various actions and attitudes in order to be selected for the national team."

Starting with the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Ryu Hyun-jin helped Korean baseball to perform well in international competitions such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 WBC. Ryu Hyun-jin, who also contributed to the gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, re-wrote the national flag for the first time in 16 years through 2026 WBC. Still, he silently played his role in advancing to the second round of the WBC for the first time in 17 years.

In fact, despite his age ahead of him, Ryu Hyun-jin has proved his competitiveness to the end by taking the center stage of the South Korean mound. Manager Ryu said, "It's great that I've maintained my competitiveness to be a starting pitcher for the Korean national team until that age," adding, "If I had finished by the second inning in the last game, I think I would have come down from the mound after achieving all of my roles, but I'm sorry for that." Still, I really want to praise him for doing his best until the last minute as the best player in the national team," he added.

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*This content was translated by AI.