Chinese Taipei walk off Italy to win opening game
Defending champions Chinese Taipei needed a walk-off single by left fielder Hsin Chiu to beat Italy, 2-1, and record a win in their first game of the tournament.
The contest lived on a pitching duel between Italy's minor leaguer Alessandro Ercolani and CPBL top draft pick Pao Lo Huang.
Ercolani struggled early with control, but kept Chinese Taipei bats relatively quiet.
World No. 17 Italy had a scoring opportunity in the top of the fourth. DH Williams Wong hit a two-out double, but Huang struck out catcher Nino Annunziata to end the threat.
In the bottom of the frame, DH Yi Lei Sun hit a lead-off ground-rule double, advanced on a sacrifice bunt before scoring for Chinese Taipei, the world No. 2, on a wild pitch.
Italy tied it in the top of the sixth. With two outs and runners at first and second, Annunziata singled off reliever Po Chun Lin and scored Eduardo Cornelli from second.
Third baseman Chieh Hsi Huang doubled off Diego Luciani to lead off the seventh. Italy intentionally walked pinch hitter Jun Wei Zheng but left fielder Hsin Chiu got to reliever Davide Montanari with a line drive beyond the first base bag to win it.