TAIPEI, Taiwan -- With bitter disappointment and not a single win under its belt, Taiwan's national team left the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Thursday after losing to archrival and competition host South Korea 11-8 in extra innings.
After trailing by six runs early in the game, Chinese Taipei fought back to draw even in the seventh inning.
However, it was unable to score off Major League player Oh Seung-hwan, who came to the mound at the bottom of the ninth.
South Korea then added three runs at the top of the 10th, including with a two-run homer, to secure the victory.
The win was only consolation for South Korea, which along with Taiwan is out of the competition as fellow pool members Israel and the Netherlands advance.
First Blood
The home side drew first blood early, hitting two doubles to take a one-point lead.
Starter Chen Kuan-yu (陳冠宇) was relieved at the top of the second inning after experiencing discomfort in his fingers. Reliever Kuo Chun-lin (郭俊麟) fared poorly, surrendering three runs on two hits and a walk.
South Korea ultimately sent 11 hitters to the plate in a five-run second inning, widening the gap to 6-0 until veteran hurler Pan Wei-lun was called up to stop the bleeding.
Taiwanese batters responded at the bottom of the second, hitting a double and three singles to close the gap to 6-3.
The Koreans added another two runs in the fourth before Lin Che-hsuan (林哲瑄) answered with a two-run homer, again making it a three-point ball game.
Three hits, including two RBI-singles at the bottom of sixth, helped Taiwan to catch up to only one run behind the hosts, giving Taiwan a glimmer of hope, but it was not to be.
Back to the Qualifiers
The loss means Taiwan finished last in Pool A, and it will have to go through the qualifiers to compete at next year's WBC in Sapporo Japan. Israel and the Netherlands advanced to the second round in the pool.
Taiwan previously failed to advance to the final eight in the first and second editions of the championship, held in 2006 and 2009.
The national team, which also didn't win a single game in the 2009 tourney, joined a qualifying round in November 2012 and clinched a spot in the 2013 event.
Taiwan hosted the 2012 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers as well as the first round of the 2013 competition. Chinese Taipei advanced to the second round by winning their pool, defeating Australia and the Netherlands while going down to South Korea.
5 顆 
10 顆 
15 顆 
20 顆