Strong pitching leads Korea to third consecutive win
World No. 6 Korea made the most of Chris Stuart's wild start (four walks) and scored in the first all the runs they would need to beat No. 7 Netherlands, 4-1. Four pitchers limited the Dutch lineup to five hits. Korea had only four hits but took advantage of the walks and two defensive errors. Korea stays undefeated after Day 3 of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024.
Chris Stuart was off to a wild start for the Netherlands. He walked the first batter, struck out the second and hit the third. The runners advanced on a double steal, and Korea took the lead on a wild pitch. The second run came on Donghyun Kim's sacrifice fly.
Stuart allowed another walk to Sungmin Choi, who stole second and scored on Siang Kim's RBI single. After a coach visit, Stuart loaded the bases with another walk and left for Edvin Irausquin. The right-hander got out of the inning with a groundout.
Korea made the most of a two-out defensive error and a walk to add a run on Doonhyun Kim's RBI single in the bottom of the third.
Hyunseok Choi took over for Park to get the third out of the fourth.
Juhwan Son relieved Choi in the top of the seventh. With Ruben Marniz at first and one out, Korea committed an error on Raydley Legito's grounder, and Marnix reached third.
Korea handed the ball to left-hander Jaeyoung Song. Marnix scored on the slow roller by Jakey Josefa to the right. Josefa beat Song to the first base bag, becoming the potential tying run at first.
Song struck out Donovan Antonio on five pitches and got Darryl Collins on a hard grounder to first base.
Korea (3-0) will open Day 4 against No. 5 Venezuela. The Netherlands (1-2) will play the afternoon game against No. 17 Nicaragua.