Japan beats S. Korea to set up semifinal with U.S.

SAN DIEGO, California, March 19 Kyodo -
Michihiro Ogasawara delivered a tiebreaking, pinch-hit single in a three-run
eighth inning as Japan beat South Korea 6-2 Thursday to finish first in the
World Baseball Classic second round in San Diego.
The win in their fourth meeting of the tournament put defending champion Japan
in a Sunday semifinal against the United States, while South Korea will take on
Venezuela in the other semifinal Saturday.
''We entered the game with a high spirit after clinching a semifinal berth last
night,'' Japan manager Tatsunori Hara said. ''Our starting pitcher Tetsuya
Utsumi limited the damage to one run, and our offense answered right back to
take a 2-1 lead in the second. Team efforts led to the three-run eighth.''
With the game tied 2-2 in the eighth, Norichika Aoki and pinch-hitter Atsunori
Inaba started the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on the
corners.
Ogasawara followed with a base hit to right field off Kim Kwang Hyun at PETCO
Park.
''My teammates created a scoring chance there. I fell behind in the count (1-2)
but managed to make contact,'' Ogasawara said.
After a Yoshiyuki Kamei sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third,
Akinori Iwamura singled in a run and another run scored on a fielding error by
center fielder Lee Taek Keun.
In the ninth, Ichiro Suzuki doubled to right-center for his first hit of the
night and scored on Aoki's single up the middle. The Seattle Mariners
outfielder was 1-for-5.
Earlier in the game, Japan turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the second
on a solo homer by Seiichi Uchikawa and an RBI single from Yasuyuki Kataoka.
Uchikawa sent a 1-1 fastball from Jang Won Sam into the left-field seats for
the first home run by a Japanese hitter in five games.
''I know none of my teammates expected a home run from me, and I never expected
one by myself,'' said Uchikawa, who had the highest-ever batting average by a
right-handed hitter with a .378 average last season. ''I'm glad I was the first
one on the team to hit a home run since we reached the second round in the
United States. But the most important thing is to get a win, as always.''
Lee Bum Ho led off the seventh with a home run to tie the game at 2-2.
Satoshi Komatsu, the 2008 Pacific League Rookie of the Year, retired eight
batters in relief of Utsumi, striking out five of them and allowing only one
runner, on a walk.
Shuichi Murata, who has homered twice this tournament, left the game in the
fourth with a pulled right hamstring after running to first when he had his
second base hit of the night.
Kenta Kurihara of the Hiroshima Carp is set to replace the Yokohama BayStars
third baseman on the roster. Japan outhit South Korea 15 to 6.
South Korea's focus of attention had been already shifted to the semifinals,
not on the game against Japan that decided the two Asian teams' semifinal
opponents, two days after the Beijing Olympic baseball champion clinched a
semifinal berth with a 4-1 win over Japan.
''As for tonight's game, winning or losing wasn't so important,'' South Korea
manager Kim In Sik said. ''We rested some of our position players and pitchers
(for the remainder of the tournament).''
Japan and South Korea are now 2-2 in the second Classic, with a chance to face
each other in the final for the fifth time.
==Kyodo