2017 Asian Championship

The 2017 Asian Championship was held in October 2017 in New Taipei City. The participants were the top four finishers from the 2015 Asian Championship ( Japan,  South Korea,  Chinese Taipei and  People's Republic of China), the top two teams from the 2017 West Asian Cup ( Sri Lanka and  Pakistan) and (as there was no East Asian Baseball Cup this year) the two highest-ranked teams that play in the East Asian Cup ( Philippines and  Hong Kong. China was a late withdrawal, citing administrative issues and trouble booking return tickets due to the Golden Holiday in that country, denying politics played a role in not going to Taiwan (they had attended the 2012 and 2015 Asian Championships in Taiwan).

See also 2017 Asian Championship (Rosters)

Games

October 2

•  Japan 30,  Hong Kong 0. Japan starts with an expected 4 1/2 inning mercy rule romp. Hong Kong starter Chung-Hei Leung retires none of the nine batters he faces, with 3 walks, four hits, a hit batsmen, an error and 8 runs (6 earned) while Masaki Tanigawa strikes out five in three perfect innings before LF Ho-Lam Andy Lo singles off Keita Hirao in the 4th for the first Hong Kong baserunner. 3B Hoi-Ting Cheng adds a triple off Keita Watanabe in the 5th. 2B Shunta Tanaka has 4 runs and 5 RBI, backup RF Kazuki Kamizato drives in five and homers and C Yuki Yamauchi drives in five and scores three, going 5-for-5.
•  South Korea 18,  Sri Lanka 0. Sri Lanka makes their debut and fares better than Hong Kong at least. Sung-han Kim holds them to two hits in five (by DH Akalanka Ranasinghe and SS Krishna Hapurachchi). RF Min-jae Choi (3 for 4, 3 R, 4 RBI, HR), 3B Min-hyeok Kim (3 R) and DH Dae-in Hwang (3 R) lead the Korean offensive. Ruwan Kumara Sampath takes the loss.
•  Chinese Taipei 12,  Philippines 2. In the lone non-shutout loss of the day, it is still a mercy rule affair (7 Innings this time). LF Tzu-Chieh Lin (2 R and 3 RBI) and CF Chia-Yu Lin both homer for Taiwan to back the pitching of Chun-Chieh Wu (8 K, 2 H in 7 IP). 1B Juan Lozano hits a two-run homer in the second to tie the game briefly before the hosts put it away. Jon-Jon Robles is handed the defeat.

October 3

•  Chinese Taipei 3,  South Korea 2. In the first close match of the Championship, Sheng-Feng Wu and Cheng-Hao Wang blank South Korea for 7 but are matched by Geon-wook Lee and Hyun Yang. Taiwan scores in the 8th off Chae-heung Choi but South Korea gets to Wang in the bottom of the frame. In the 10th, Taiwan scores twice off Dong-yeon Kang; South Korea gets one more off An-Ko Lin in the bottom of the inning. 2B Po-Ting Hsiao scores twice for Taiwan.
•  Japan 13,  Pakistan 1. C Ryo Kinami's 3-run homer off Wali Muhammad is the big blow in today's win for Japan. Ryosuke Abe gets the victory. Pakistan's lone run comes in the 5th off Kenya Suzuki when DH Muhammad Waseem drives in LF Fazal Ur Rehman.
•  Philippines 8,  Sri Lanka 5. Sri Lanka shows they can compete with Asia's second-tier teams, leading 2-0 after two and even at 5 after 7 1/2 before fading late in a loss. CF Jonash Ponce has 2 runs and 3 RBI for the victors while C Mark Manaig goes 4-for-4. Romeo Jasmin Jr. gets the win and Junmar Diarao the save, while Jayarathne Sanjeewa takes the defeat. DH Akalanka Ranasinghe and SS Krishna Hapurachchi both drive in two for Sri Lanka while CF Sameera Rathnayake scores twice.

October 4

•  Hong Kong 4,  Pakistan 1. Pakistan's shot at making the final round fails as they fall to Hong Kong, which had been outscored 30-0 in their prior game. 1B Jawad Ali drives in SS Arsalan Jamashaid in the first against Wing-Tung Mok but Hong Kong ties it in the second off Ihsan Ullah and goes ahead in the 5th. Chi-Kam Kenneth Chiu wins the game in relief (5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 HB, 2 K). CF Tsun-Wai Yung is 3 for 3 with two runs for Hong Kong while LF Fazal Ur Rehman goes 2 for 4 in a losing cause.
•  Chinese Taipei 13,  Sri Lanka 0. Kuo-Hao Chiang, Chen-Yu Wu and Tzu-Yang Li combine on a three-hitter while LF Hung-Shang Pan goes 2 for 3 with two walks, two runs and four RBI. Karunarathne Chirath is handed the defeat.
•  South Korea 18,  Philippines 3. RF Min-hyeok Kim goes 4 for 4 with three runs and two RBI, DH Dae-in Hwang is 4 for 5 with 3 runs and four RBI and 3B Sang-chul Moon drives in four while SS Sung-gyu Lee raps four hits in four at-bats and scores three in a romp. Min-ho Park gets the win with 2 1/3 hitless, walkless innings, fanning four. C Alfredo de Guzman is 1 for 1 with a walk, run and a RBI in a loss. Lesmar Ventura takes the defeat, but is not helped by four Filipino errors.

October 5

•  Philippines 10,  Hong Kong 0. The Philippines moves into the final four with a rout of Hong Kong. SS Adriane Ros Bernardo scores three runs, RF Carlos Muñoz drives in four and 3B Juan Alvaro Macasaet scores two and drives in one. Romeo Jasmin Jr. excels with seven innings of four-hit, two-walk ball, striking out nine. CF Tsun-Wai Yung gets half the Hong Kong club's hits while Ka-Ho Sam Leung takes the loss.

October 6

•  Pakistan 10,  Sri Lanka 2. Pakistan got its only win, topping Sri Lanka, getting revenge for their 2017 West Asian Baseball Cup loss. Inayat Ullah Khan throws seven shutout innings (4 H, 1 BB, 6 K) in relief of Abubakar Virk. SS Arsalan Jamashaid and RF Muhammad Rafi both rap three hits and score twice, Muhammad also driving in 3, as did LF Fazal Ur Rehman. Madumal Tharindu took the loss while bright spots for Sri Lanka were 1B Krishna Hapuarachchi (4 for 4, R) and CF Sameera Rathnayake (3 for 4).
•  Chinese Taipei 14,  Philippines 0. Tsung-Hao Wang throws a 7-inning no-hitter, a walk to 2B Juan Alvaro Macasaet and an error by 3B Wei-Chih Chen costing a perfect game. Junmar Diarao takes the loss. 2B Po-Ting Hsiao scores 3 runs while 1B Han Lin goes 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBI.
•  Japan 3,  South Korea 0. Japan faced their first serious opponent and it was a fine pitching duel between Masaki Tanigawa (11 K, 6 H, 1 BB, 0 R in 8 IP) and Jeong-bin Kim (2 K, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 R in 7 1/3 IP), neither team scoring until the 8th. With one out in the 8th, 1B Tsubasa Irei singles in DH Takumi Oshiro, who had walked and advanced on a passed ball. Katsutoshi Satake got the save for Japan. DH Dae-in Hwang and 3B Min-hyeok Kim each had two hits for South Korea.

October 7

•  Sri Lanka 2,  Hong Kong 0. Sri Lanka got its first win in an Asian Championship. Madumal Tharindu (5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K) and Chi-Kam Kenneth Chiu (8 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 UER) battle on the mound, with Ruwan Kumara Sampath, Karunarathne Chirath and Jayarathne Sanjeewa tossing shutout relief for Tharindu, with Chirath getting the win and Sanjeewa the save. Sri Lanka scores in the 8th and adds one (also unearned) in the 9th off Wing-Tung Mok. CF Sameera Rathnayake drives in 2B Avishka Sahan with the winning run and C Nelanka Karunarathna drives in RF Asanka Lakmal with the insurance run. LF Ho-Lam Andy Lo and 2B Hon-Man Ashley Ma each have two hits in a losing cause. All the teams have thus won at least once this tournament.
•  South Korea 11,  Philippines 0. Sung-han Kim and Min-ho Park combine on a four-hit whitewash, while 3B Sang-chul Moon goes 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBI. Francis Gesmundo takes the defeat.
•  Japan 10,  Chinese Taipei 0. The two unbeaten teams square off and Japan cruises to victory. Ryosuke Abe, Kenya Suzuki (W), Keita Hirao and Hiroshi Suzuki combine on a three-hit, two-walk, ten-whiff gem; 3B Wei-Chih Chen has two of the three hits. Chun-Chieh Wu allows 8 runs in 1 2/3 IP in a rough start. RF Tsuyoshi Sugano drives in five.

October 8

•  South Korea 15,  Philippines 0. The Bronze Medal Game is one-sided as Seon-gi Kim, Chan-ho Kim, Se-jin Park and Geon-wook Lee strike out nine in a combined four-hitter for the defending champions. 3B Min-hyeok Kim and CF Min-jae Choi both have 2 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI while RF Sun-woo Oh goes 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI from the 9th slot. Juan Paulo Macasaet is the losing hurler.
•  Japan 6,  Chinese Taipei 1. Japan won the Gold Medal game, with Taiwan repeated as Silver Medalists. Daiki Tajima (3 H, 3 BB, 5 K) turned in five shutout innings while Yen-Ching Lu blanked Japan for four before fading in the 5th. 3B Akihiro Wakabayashi scored twice for Japan while 1B Shoji Kitamura hit a home run. Taiwan got their lone run in the 6th off Keita Watanabe when 1B Han Lin drove in SS Chun-Kai Liao.

Awards

• MVP: Daiki Tajima,  Japan
• Outstanding Defensive Player: Yudai Fujioka,  Japan

All-Star Team

• P: Masaki Tanigawa,  Japan
• C: Yuki Yamauchi,  Japan
• 1B: Sang-chul Moon,  South Korea
• 2B: Han Lin,  Chinese Taipei
• SS: Yudai Fujioka,  Japan
• 3B: Shoji Kitamura,  Japan
• OF: Kazuki Kamizato,  Japan
• OF: Tzu-Chieh Lin,  Chinese Taipei
• OF: Min-hyeok Kim,  South Korea
• DH: Dae-in Hwang,  South Korea