S. Korea falls to Japan for 1st loss in baseball

NAGOYA, Japan — The four-time defending champion South Korea was shut out by Japan 5-0 for its first loss in the Asian Games baseball tournament on Friday. Made up of stars of the top domestic league, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), South Korea managed just four hits against a Japanese team of amateurs to begin the Super Round at Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium in Toyohashi, some 85 kilometers southeast of the main host city, Nagoya. Both teams had won all three matches in the preliminary stage to qualify for the Super Round, joined by Chinese Taipei and China. Counting its win over Chinese Taipei in the group phase, South Korea's Super Round record now stands at 1-1, while Japan, which earlier beat China in the group round, improved to 2-0. On Friday, South Korea will play China, while Japan will take on Chinese Taipei. Should both South Korea and Japan win Friday, then they will meet for the gold medal on Sunday in Toyohashi. However, if only South Korea wins and Japan loses to Chinese Taipei, then those three teams will finish with an identical 2-1 record. In that case, th