2015 Asian Championship

The 2015 Asian Championship was held September 16 through September 20, 2015 in Taichung, Taiwan. Competing were Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, People's Republic of China, Pakistan and Indonesia. It was the 27th Asian Championship. South Korea won its first championship since 1999; Japan had won five in a row before falling to third in 2015. See 2015 Asian Championship (Rosters) for roster information.

September 16[edit]

Japan 12, People's Republic of China 0. The defending champs start off strong as Taisuke Yamaoka, Junichi Katayama and Hitoshi Kondo combine on a two-hit, no-walk shutout in a 7-inning mercy rule win; only LF Chuang Na and SS Zan Cheng get hits for China. C Takuya Kinoshita goes 3 for 4 with four RBI while DH Toshiyuki Hayashi walks three times, has a hit and scores two.
Pakistan 7, Indonesia 1. Pakistan wins handily in a match-up of the two lowest-rank entries. Muhammad Abdullah Bara gets the win while Anayat Ullah saves it with 3 2/3 shutout innings (1 H, 0 BB). Ahmad Effendy takes the loss. Indonesia's lone run comes in the first when 2B Bambang Rachmat Dwitama drives in SS Rizki Ramadhan. RF Ubaid Ullah goes 5 for 5 with four runs from the leadoff slot while CF Muhammad Sumair Zawar drives in four.
South Korea 8, Chinese Taipei 2. The 2012 Silver Medalists dropped a game to the 2012 Bronze Medalists; it was 2-2 entering the 6th before South Korea erupted for six runs in the 6th and 7th. Taiwan tried 7 pitchers to stop the flood. Chae-heung Choi got the win over Yen-Ching Lu. LF Woo-sung Lee was 3 for 4 with three RBI.

South Korea 12, People's Republic of China 2. China again drops a 7-inning mercy rule game, but goes from no runs on two hits to two runs on five hits. Jae-young Kim allows one hit and no walks in five shutout innings for the win, while Haifan Yang takes the loss. LF Woo-sung Lee (3 for 4, R, RBI), 3B Sun-jin Oh (3 for 5, 3 R) and CF Soo-haeng Jo (2 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI) lead the Korean offense.
Japan 15, Pakistan 0. Daiki Tajima (5 IP) and Masahiro Abe (1 IP) combine on a perfect game. SS Kimio Watanabe goes 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and 1B Yohei Kawato is 3 for 3 with two runs and a RBI. Ihsan Ullah allows four runs in 3 1/3 IP for the loss, but he easily outperforms Pakistan's relievers, who yield 11 runs in two innings before the mercy rule ends it.
Chinese Taipei 21, Indonesia 0. At Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, the hosts pull off a rout with the second perfecto of the day, Ming-Hsuan Chen going the distance and fanning 7. Taiwan scores one in the first and another in the second then scores 19 in the next three for the mercy rule to kick in. CF Yu-Ning Tsao (3 R, 3 RBI), 2B Tzu-Wei Lin (4 RBI) and SS Yu-Cheng Chang (3 R) are the offensive headliners. Chindy Patria Yudharana takes the loss.

South Korea 11, Pakistan 0. Myeong-sin Kim, Yong-joo Kim and Won-jun Ko combine on a five-hit whitewash, two of the hits coming from LF Fazal Ur Rehman as Pakistan puts up a better show than the prior day. Anayat Ullah is handed the loss. SS Ye-il Seo (4 for 5, 3 R, 3 RBI) and 1B Ju-suk Ha (3 R) lead the Korean offense.
Japan 15, Indonesia 0. In a 4 1/2 inning mercy rule rout, Japan scores ten in the first. Yuki Sameshima and Taisuke Kondo fan 13 batters in five innings and allow two hits, to CF Andospa Aldo Saputra and 2B Otto Wahyu Minarto. 1B Takumi Harada (2 R, 4 RBI) and LF Takeshi Nakamura (3 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI) are the offensive stars. Starter Ahmad Effendy gives up 6 hits, 4 walks and 10 runs in 2/3 of an inning. A bright spot for Indonesia is reliever Pradita Satya Ananda, who tosses a shutout 4th with no hits and one walk.
Chinese Taipei 7, People's Republic of China 0. Wei-Chieh Huang, Ping-Hsueh Chen and Kuo-Hua Lo combine on a two-hit, two-walk shutout of their political rival (who often had skipped tournaments held in Taiwan in the past). 1B Han Lin draws 3 walks and scores two while 2B Tzu-Wei Lin goes 2 for 3 with two runs and a RBI. DH Chuang Na and SS Zan Cheng had the lone hits for China. Song Ran was the losing pitcher.

Chinese Taipei 14, Pakistan 0. Yi-Chih Huang, Tsung-Hao Wang and Shih-Ying Peng combine on a 7-inning three-hitter to beat Adil Sardar. RF Chih-Chieh Su (4 for 4, 2 R, 3 RBI) and C Min-Hsun Chang (3 H, 4 RBI) are Taiwan's offensive stars.
People's Republic of China 13, Indonesia 2. Indonesia had its best offensive performance of the tournament, scoring twice in a loss. Yu Liu got the win and Muhammad Akbar the loss. DH Chuang Na (3 for 4, 3 R, 3 RBI), CF Xiao Cui (3 for 4, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI) and LF Shunyi Yang (3 R) are the top hitters.
South Korea 2, Japan 1. Japan looked on pace for its sixth straight title, coming in with three easy wins and going ahead early on a dinger by DH Toshiyuki Hayashi off Sang-su Kim. It would be their only run off five Korean hurlers but they still led 1-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. Katsutoshi Satake had allowed four hits and one walk in seven scoreless innings (7 K) and Junichi Katayama had tossed a scoreless 8th. Hitoshi Kondo came in in the 9th to close it up but allowed a leadoff hit to LF Woo-sung Lee. Kondo retired Korea's 4th and 5th hitters but 3B Ju-suk Ha then hit a stunning come-from-behind, game-winning, game-ending home run.

South Korea 15, Indonesia 0. South Korea finished unbeaten in its title run as Myeong-sin Kim, Yong-joo Kim and Dong-hyun Choi combine on a four-hitter. CF Soo-haeng Jo (4 for 4, BB, 2 R), RF Jong-seong Kim and DH Woo-sung Lee each drive in three while C Seong-yong Moon scores three. Ahmad Effendy loses with 6 runs in 1/3 of an inning.
People's Republic of China 5, Pakistan 0. In a battle for fourth place, China shows they're still ahead of Pakistan by a good margin as Xin Li and Lei Yu combine to fan 12 in a four-hitter; CF Muhammad Sumair Zawar had two of the four hits. Ihsan Ullah is handed the loss. DH Chuang Na (3 H) and CF Xiao Cui (3 RBI) again lead China on offense.
Chinese Taipei 3, Japan 1. Japan has its worst finish in 14 years as Taiwan shuts them down with the pitching of Yen-Ching Lu (6 shutout innings), Ping-Hsueh Chen (W) and Kuo-Hua Lo (Sv). CF Yu-Ning Tsao goes 3 for 4, scores Taiwan's first run and drives in the third, but the biggest hit is RF Chih-Chieh Su's tie-breaking homer off Tomohito Sakai in the 7th.