S. Korea falls to Japan for 2nd straight loss at regional baseball tournament

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By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea dropped to Japan 9-5 for its second...

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea dropped to Japan 9-5 for its second straight loss at an ongoing regional baseball tournament in Tokyo on Friday, as it failed to hold on to an early lead and got undone by long balls.

South Korea surrendered four home runs in the teams' second game of the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) at Tokyo Dome, none more devastating than the go-ahead three-run bomb by Rui Muneyama in the bottom of the eighth inning.

South Korea, made up of Korea Baseball Organization stars, opened the competition with an 8-7 loss to Australia on Thursday. Managed by Choi Won-ho, South Korea will next face Taiwan at 7 p.m. Saturday, while Japan will take on Australia at noon Saturday.

After the completion of round-robin play, the bottom two teams will meet in the third-place match at 11 a.m. Sunday, while the top two nations will square off in the championship final at 7 p.m. Sunday.

This is the third edition of the APBC. South Korea finished as the runner-up to Japan at each of the two earlier tournaments.

In order to reach its third straight final, South Korea must beat Taiwan and have Japan defeat Australia on Saturday. In that case, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia will all finish at 1-2 and will go to a tiebreaking formula to determine who will face Japan for the championship.

The APBC is for players aged 24 years and younger or those with no more than three years of professional experience. Teams can each take up to three players who are between 24 and 29 years old.

Han Dong-hui gave South Korea a 1-0 lead with a solo home run off starter Kazuyuki Takemaru in the top of the third inning.

The lead was short-lived, though, as Tomoya Masaki blasted a two-run home run off starter Kim Jin-uk in the bottom third.

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