Redemption for Taipei County (Ban-Chiao)....

Yu-Shan Cup:

The Champs


Tourney MVP Kuan-Yu Chen


All-Star P Hao-Chun Chiu


Rong-Hao Hsieh



All-Star CF Hsiao-Yi Kao


All-Star DH Jui-Hua Yang

Taipei County (Ban-Chiao) defeated Taoyuan County 3-1 in the championship game, thus avenging last year's 2-1 loss. Despite tossing 3 shutout innings in the semifinals yesterday (gave up 1 hit and hit a high of 90 mph), Rong-Hao Hsieh started the game and lasted 3.2 innings (giving up 1 run on 5 hits), before he was replaced by tourney MVP - Kuan-Yu Chen. Chen completed the game, throwing 5.1 scoreless innings (allowing 1 hit and K'ing 5). Prior to the championship game, Hsieh had thrown 16 cumulative innings in the tourney, giving up 3 runs (only 1 was earned).

Hao-Chun Chiu (clocked consistently in the high 80's - topping out at 89 mph) started for Taoyuan County and managed to tame Taipei County's offense for the most part (7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R) - unfortunately the defense behind Chiu committed 4 costly errors - leading to Taipei County's 3 runs.

Taipei County (BC) was undefeated - going 9-0 in the tourney and blitzed through the field - scoring 80 total runs in the YS Cup.

Taitung County defeated Tainan County 3-1 to take 3rd place in the tourney.

Hence, the NT's backbone will be made up of players from Ku-Pao High School. The junior NT roster should be made available tomorrow.

Tourney Awards: (Team/DOB/HT/WT/Throws/Bats)

Highest BA: Tung-Hsiao Yi (Chiayi County - 2/1/90 - 5'9"/154 - R/L) .588

Most Wins: Rong-Hao Hsieh (Taipei County - BC - 7/9/90 - 6'1"/178 - R/R) 2

Most HR's: Ho Lin (Taipei County - BC - 1/31/90 - 5'8"/147 - R/L) 1

Top RBI man & Tourney MVP: Kuan-Yu Chen (Taipei County - BC - 10/19/90 - 5' 8.5"/154 - L/L) 14 RBI's

*Edited

All-Star Team: (Team/DOB/HT/WT/Throws/Bats)

P: Hao-Chun Chiu (Taoyuan County - 12/29/90 - 5'11"/154 - R/R)
C: Ming-Yen Kan (Taipei County - BC - 1/15/1990 - 5'8"/167 - R/R)
1B: Chia-Liang Hong (Tainan City - 12/20/90 - 5'11"/172 - R/R)
2B: Ho Lin (Taipei County - BC) (see above)
3B: Fu-Lin Kuo (Tainan City- 1/7/91 - 6'0"/176 - R/R)
SS: Hong-Hsiang Pan (Yilan County - 1/10/90 - ?/132 - R/S)
RF: Yen-Ru Chen (Taipei County - BC - 11/2/90 - 5'10"/161 - R/R)
CF: Hsiao-Yi Kao (Taipei County - BC - 5/29/90 - 5'9"/156 - R/R)
LF: Hsing-Kuan Chen (Taitung County - 1/15/90 - 5'11"/187 - R/R)
DH: Jui-Hua Yang (Taoyuan County - 3/10/90 - 5'6"/163 - L/L)

Tough Loss for Kuo....

MLB:
Kuo took the loss today against the D-Rays in a game where he probably should have earned a ND. The Dodgers spotted Kuo an early 2 run lead thanks to Gonzo's 2 run HR. Kuo pitched well through the first 3 innings, allowing only a leadoff - first pitch HR to Ty Wigginton in the 2nd inning. Kuo would allow another run to score in the 4th after Delmon Young singled in Carl Crawford. After facing 2 batters in the 6th inning (allowing a leadoff double and then K'ing the next hitter), Kuo was pulled when his pitch count reached 95. Kuo was pitching only on 3 days rest after his last disastrous outing against the Jays. Reliever Rudy Seanez would come in to relieve Kuo with an inherited runner on 2nd base. The first batter Seanez faced would single to LF and Luis Gonzalez would make a strong throw that beat the runner to home plate. Unfortunately Dodgers C Mike Lieberthal had the ball knocked out of his mitt and the D-Rays would take a lead that they wouldn't relinquish. Kuo was charged with the earned run- his 3rd of the game. The Dodgers would end up losing 9-4. Kuo pitched very well - allowing 3 runs on only 4 hits over 5.1 innings. He had 8 K's (getting Iwamura and Crawford twice) with only 1 walk while clocking 91-93 and topping out at 94 mph on his fastball. Box/Recap


NPB:
Lin was 0-4 as his team fell to the Fighters 3-1. His BA is down to .303 now. Box


US MINORS:
R - No update for the scheduled game between the GCL Reds and Red Sox. In the meantime, check out Che-Hsuan Lin's own website/blog - lots of pics.

SS A - Sheng-An Kuo earned a ND, but pitched well despite his team's 5-2 loss on Sunday. Kuo threw 7.1 innings, allowing only 1 run on 4 hits to go along with 7 K's. Kuo left the game after an apparent foot injury. Box
*Updated*

A - Greenville lost 8-4. Chiang was 1-4. Box

A - Keng got hammered today in a relief appearance - allowing 5 runs on 6 hits (including 2 HR's) in 2 innings. He earned his 4th loss of the season as Lansing lost 6-1. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 3-2. Hu was 1-5 with a double. Box


CPBL:
Lions 11 - Bulls 2: Game MVP Pete Munro spun a good game against the Bulls, allowing only 1 run and 3 hits over 6 innings. He received some run support from slugger Kuo-Ching Kao, who cracked his 12th HR of the season. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 1-4 with a double and a RBI.

Elephants 9 - Bears 3: The Bears wasted a good performance from SP Yu-Wei Hsu who allowed 2 runs over 6.1 innings while K'ing 6. The Bears bullpen would melt down allowing 7 runs over the last 2 innings. Game MVP honors went to Elephants LF Antonio Alvarez who cracked his 6th HR of the season and was 3-4 with 4 RBI's. Chia-Chia was 1-4 with a double, while CFC was 1-3 with a double.


Amateur:
Taipei County was upset by Taoyuan County in the championship game of the Yu-Shan Cup 2-1. Pitching for Taipei County was Kupao pitcher Rong-Hao Hsieh. Hsieh was the story of the tourney, clocking 94 mph in the championship game while throwing consistently around 91 mph - remember this kid is 16 years old. Despite his dominant fastball, Hsieh took yet another loss in a championship game (he lost to Che-Hsuan Lin and Nan-Ying in Feb.) Hsieh threw a complete game, allowing the 2 runs on 8 hits to go along with 6 K's. The Asian Junior Baseball Championships coming up this fall will have its roster made up primarily of players from the Taoyuan County team.

Gearing Up for Short-Season Ball.....

US MINORS:
R - Lin is currently not listed on the Red Sox GCL roster - but do expect him to play in the GCL soon. The Red Sox won 2-1 today. Starting at 3B C.H. Huang was 0-3 with a walk. Box

SS A - Sheng-An Kuo is on the Tri-City Dust Devils roster. He was scheduled to pitch the season opener - and promptly won in his debut. Kuo pitched 5 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits. Box
Read more about Kuo here. *Edited/Updated


NPB:
Lin was 0-4 with 2 K's as the Tigers won 1-0. Box


CPBL:
Elephants 5 - Lions 2: Relief pitcher Todd Moser was voted game MVP for helping to shut down the Lions offense over 4 innings. All of the Lions runs came on Tilson Brito's 2 run shot (15th on the season) in the first inning. Chia-Chia was 1-4 for the Elephants. Pete Munro earned a ND despite a stellar performance - 7 innings - 2 runs - 8 hits - 5 K's.
Bears 5 - Bulls 2: CF Long-Yi Huang earned game MVP honors after going 4-5 with a double and 2 RBI's. 1B Kuo-Long Hsu was 3-4 for the Bulls while Tarzan was 1-3.


Amateur:

The Yu-Shan Cup is going on in Taiwan to help determine which kids will represent Taiwan in the AAA Asian Junior Baseball Championships (will take place in Taichung, Taiwan at the end of August through early September). Taipei County - one of the team entries, is represented by two of the bigger names in the tourney - pitchers Chih-Lung Huang (who has been clocked at 93 mph in the tourney) and Rong-Hao Hsieh.

Huang

Hsieh