S. Korea falls to Australia to open regional baseball tournament

Korea lost to Australia 7-8 in its first game of a regional baseball tournament in Tokyo on Thursday as its comeback effort went for naught. Korea rallied from a 4-0 deficit to take a 6-4 lead, only to give up four runs over the final two innings in the teams' first game of the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) at Tokyo Dome. This is the third edition of the tournament, which also features the host country Japan and Taiwan. Japan won the first two editions, with Korea finishing as the runner-up on both occasions. 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. Korea, made up mostly of young Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) stars, will next face Japan at 7 p.m. Friday and then Taiwan at 7 p.m. Saturday. After round-robin play, the two worst teams will square off in the third-place game at 11 a.m. Sunday, and the top two nations will clash in the final at 7 p.m. Sunday. Australia opened the scoring in the top of the first inning,...