In front of the ‘Legend’ from Dongguk University, the junior sidearm pitchers showed off a luxury pitching match.
KT Wiz and Doosan Bears recorded a 1-1 draw in the third game of the season between the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League teams held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 23rd. There was something as fierce as the match between the two teams. It was a luxury pitching battle between starting pitchers.
The confrontation between KT and Doosan on this day attracted a lot of attention as it was a confrontation between the native aces of ‘Side Arm’ from Dongguk University. This is because Ko Young-pyo, who is recording 2 wins and 1 loss with an ERA of 3.54 in 4 games this season, and Choi Won-joon, who is playing an active role in 3 games with 1 loss and an average ERA of 3.32, both graduated from Dongguk University. In addition, KT coach Lee Kang-cheol, who had ‘152 wins’ during his active career, also raised expectations for the juniors’ confrontation with a side arm from Dongguk University.
Prior to the match, coach Lee Kang-cheol said, “I should see the referee?” His arm had no choice but to bend inward, but he seemed to be looking forward to a head-to-head match between sidearm pitchers from Dongguk University. Koh Young-pyo and Choi Won-jun both showed pitches that matched expectations as ‘local aces’ representing each team. It created a tight pitching battle that did not deviate much from expectations.
At the beginning of the game, Choi Won-jun and Ko Young-pyo showed off a tight tug-of-war. When Choi Won-joon tied up KT’s top batting line, leading to Cho Yong-ho, Kim Min-hyuk, and Anthony Alford, in a three-way tie in the first inning, Ko Young-pyo also faced off by neatly tying up Yang Chan-yeol, Ahn Jae-seok, and Yang Seok-hwan’s batting line at the end of the first inning. And when Choi Won-joon struck out two innings in the second inning and once again finished the inning, Ko Young-pyo also struck out Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Eui-ji in a row, showing flawless pitching.
The pendulum of the weight was tilted 4 times. Choi Won-joon, who was cruising through 3 scoreless innings, was hit by lead batter Kim Min-hyeok in the 4th inning, and then gave Park Byung-ho a hit ball, causing a crisis on the 1st and 2nd bases. Here, he allowed Kang Baek-ho, who had been silent for the last two games in a row, to hit the 111km curve in the third pitch and fall in front of the right fielder.
Their similar flow continued. This is because Ko Young-pyo, like Choi Won-joon, was in crisis in the 4th episode. Koh Young-pyo quickly built up two out counts by turning Ahn Jae-seok and Yang Seok-hwan to beom-ta in the 4th inning. However, after two deaths, he was driven to first and second base, giving consecutive hits to Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Eui-ui. However, Koh Young-pyo did not waver and overcame the crisis with a scoreless goal by catching Rojas with a floating ball in center field.
There was a crack in the tight tug-of-war flow, but the pitcher battle continued. Choi Won-joon overcame the crisis with 2 outs on 1st and 2nd base in the 5th inning with no runs, then blocked the 6th inning and completed his mission with 1 run in 6 innings. Koh Young-pyo also tied Kang Seung-ho, Heo Kyung-min, and Jeong Soo-bin in the 5th inning and Yang Chan-yeol, Ahn Jae-seok and Yang Seok-hwan in the 6th inning, completing 6 scoreless innings.
Choi Won-joon, who had more crises than Koh Young-pyo, went down the mound earlier than Koh Young-pyo after pitching 6 innings. On the other hand, Ko Young-pyo, who had plenty of pitches, continued pitching. But here a problem arose. Young-pyo Koh, who did not receive help from defense, lost the victory requirement.
Young-pyo Ko was in danger of giving up a run for the third time in the 7th inning when he gave up consecutive hits to lead batters Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Seok-hwan. Koh Young-pyo succeeded in inducing the second baseman to Rojas, the follow-up hitter, and seemed to create a double hit. KT second baseman Park Kyung-soo passed the ball to shortstop Kim Sang-su, caught the first base runner on second base, and Kim Sang-soo threw the ball back toward the first baseman. At this time, Kim Sang-soo’s throw led to a bad throw, ignoring the first baseman’s mitt, and second base runner Kim Jae-hwan broke into the groove and tied the score 1-1.
In the end, the unavoidable confrontation between Dongguk University sidearm seniors and juniors that day ended in a no-decision match. 먹튀검증 However, it was clear that both Choi Won-joon and Koh Young-pyo showed high-quality pitching as sidearm pitchers who would succeed Dongguk University’s ‘great senior’ coach Lee Kang-cheol.