'and' Doosan's 151 km/h left-hander: What happened at Sangmu! Futures League leader in saves → Perfect 3-inning KKKKKKK performance on the world stage... Korea U-23 national team crushes South Africa 7-0

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A left-handed prospect who struggled with the Doosan Bears has transformed beyond recognition after enlisting in the military. Park Ji-ho (23), who ranked first in saves in the Futures League this year while serving with the Military Sports Agency (Sangmu), delivered a dominant performance on the world stage, pitching three scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. The Korea U-23 national baseball team also secured a spot in the Super Round by crushing South Africa, powered by Park's outstanding pitching.

The Korean U-23 national baseball team, led by Manager Lee Yeon-su, defeated South Africa 7-0 in the final fifth match of Group B's opening round at the Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, Nicaragua, on the 11th (Korean time), at the 6th World Baseball Championship.

With this victory, Korea finished the opening round with a record of three wins and two losses, having defeated Cuba (3-2), Great Britain (3-0), and South Africa. Although they lost to Japan (5-6) and Venezuela, they secured one of the three Super Round berths available to teams finishing in the top three of their group.

The standout player of the day was starting pitcher Park Ji-ho. Park allowed only one hit over three innings while striking out a remarkable seven batters, pitching scoreless. Opposing hitters could barely touch his pitches. He recorded seven of the nine outs he was responsible for via strikeouts.

Park is a left-handed pitcher who graduated from Jang'an High School and Donggang University, and was drafted by Doosan in the fifth round, 42nd overall, of the 2024 KBO Rookie Draft. Standing at 181 cm and weighing 99 kg, he is a prospect known for throwing fastballs that hover around 150 km/h.

In his rookie season in 2024, Park earned his first division debut opportunity in the final game of the regular season. At the time, he recorded a top speed of 151 km/h against the NC Dinos, pitching two-thirds of an inning scoreless with two strikeouts to record his first career save. However, he failed to maintain his growth trajectory the following year. In the 2025 Futures League, he managed only one win and one loss in eight games with an ERA of 10.29. He struggled with control issues, allowing seven walks over seven innings.

The turning point was his enlistment at Sangmu. Park has been active in the Futures League wearing the Sangmu uniform since December last year. His performance differed markedly from before his enlistment. This year, Park pitched 39 innings across 39 games, striking out 29 batters while recording four wins, two losses, one save, 14 holds, and an ERA of 3.46. He lowered his ERA from the double digits last year to the 3rd-point range and ranked first in the entire Futures League with 14 holds.

Park, who did not get a chance in the first division last year, was selected for the U-23 national team as he grew into a key member of Sangmu's bullpen. He also showed potential as a starting pitcher on the international stage. Previously, in the second opening round match against Japan, he made a relief appearance and left some regrets by allowing a solo home run. However, in the final game against South Africa, he started and successfully rebounded with three scoreless innings and seven strikeouts.

Even after Park left the mound, Korea's pitching staff remained steady. Seo Jun-o (21·Doosan), Ha Hye-seong (23·Lotte), Shin Sang-yeon (21·SSG), and Eom Yo-seop (20·Hanwha) took the mound in succession to shut down the remaining four innings with no hits and no runs allowed. The five Korean pitchers limited the South African lineup to just one hit over seven innings while combining for 14 strikeouts. Starting pitcher Park alone accounted for seven strikeouts, with the bullpen contributing the other seven.

The offense also demonstrated high scoring efficiency with a small number of hits. Korea recorded only four hits on the day. However, all four were extra-base hits. Kang Seong-woo (21·Sangmu) hit one double and one triple, while Kim Geon (19·NC) recorded a triple and Lee Won-jun (20·SSG) recorded a double.

In particular, Kang is an infield prospect who played in 83 Futures League games this year with Sangmu, posting a .293 batting average (83 hits in 283 at-bats), two home runs, and 42 RBIs. After being drafted by Lotte in the fifth round, 43rd overall, in 2024, he has been steadily gaining experience with Sangmu. Korea took an early lead with one run in the third inning before adding six more runs across the fourth and fifth innings to secure the win. Yang Hyeon-jong (20·Kiwoom) and Kim Dong-ju (22·Yonsei University) also each recorded an RBI via a sacrifice fly.

A difficult challenge awaits in the Super Round. In this tournament, head-to-head results from the opening round between teams that advance to the Super Round are carried over as-is. Since Korea lost to both Japan and Venezuela, they enter the next round with two losses on their record.

On the other hand, Venezuela starts the Super Round with two wins, while Japan begins with one win and one loss. Even if Korea wins all of its remaining three games, whether it advances to the final will depend on the results of other teams. Korea finished as runner-up in this tournament in 2022 after losing to Japan, and placed fifth in 2024. They have not yet won the championship.

The Super Round begins on the 13th. Korea will face Taiwan, who finished third in Group A, along with the other top three teams from Group A, one by one. Specific game times are to be determined later. Matches involving the Korean national team at this tournament will be broadcast live on SPOTV Prime and SPOTV NOW.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original