2019 Asian Championship

The 2019 Asian Championship was played from October 14 to October 20, 2019 in Taichung, Taiwan. Competing nations were  Japan,  South Korea,  Chinese Taipei,  People's Republic of China,  Philippines,  Pakistan,  Sri Lanka and  Hong Kong - the top four teams from the 2017 Asian Championship (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China) plus the top two teams from the 2018 East Asian Baseball Cup (Philippines, Hong Kong) and the top two from the 2019 West Asian Baseball Cup (Sri Lanka, Pakistan).

See 2019 Asian Championship (Rosters)

October 14

•  People's Republic of China 5,  South Korea 4. China pulls off a huge upset as Enting Cui throws five shutout innings of two-hit ball and Tao Zhang gets the win with one run in three to close it out. SS Jin Yang falls a triple shy of the cycle and drives in three. Dong-hyun Bae took the loss. The only other time China had beaten South Korea was in 2005.
•  Chinese Taipei 17,  Hong Kong 2. Taiwan- Japan was delayed when Japan's team did not make it due to typhoons; instead, host Taiwan had a five-inning mercy rule rout of Hong Kong. Yu-Hao Cheng got the win with three shutout innings, while losing pitcher Ho-Tsung Yee was hit hard. RF Chen-Yu Yang was 3 for 3 with a walk, homer, four runs and four RBI while SS Chun-Kai Liao went 4 for 4, with two doubles, a triple and three runs.
•  Philippines 11,  Pakistan 0. Francis Gesmundo, Vladimir Eguia, Alvin Maynard Herrera and Miguel Salud shut out Pakistan over 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, while 2B Jennald Pareja falls a home run short of a cycle. CF Muhammad Majeed had two of Pakistan's 4 hits while Rizwan Ali takes the defeat.

October 15

•  South Korea 12,  Pakistan 1. 2B Jae-gyeong Park and 1B Tae-seong Choe each go 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI as South Korea rebounds from their opening loss. Dong-hyun Park gets the win over Atif Ahmad. CF Muhammad Majeed drives in 3B Muhammad Hussain in the top of the first but Pakistan gets no more.
•  Hong Kong 5,  Sri Lanka 1. Chi-Kam Kenneth Chiu goes the distance with a five-hit, one-walk, eight-whiff effort for the win against Sasika Jayasinghe Archichige Don. C Ho-Yin Benny Tam drove in a pair for the victors, while LF Amila Galbokka Hewage has 4 of his team's 5 hits and their only RBI.
•  Japan 2,  Chinese Taipei 0. Japan edges the hosts as Makoto Hori, Yasuaki Ojima, Shota Abe and Katsutoshi Satake combine on a six-hit whitewash and RF Tatsuhiko Satoh twice drives in 2B Kazuya Shimokawa. DH Wei-Chih Chen reaches base three times for Taiwan, while Kai-Wei Teng takes the loss.
•  Philippines 1,  People's Republic of China 0. A day after China pulls off a big upset, they suffer a huge upset loss as Romeo Jasmin Jr. and Miguel Salud blank them on five hits, striking out nine. It was the first time the Philippines had beaten China in an Asian Championship. Quan Gan takes a tough loss, allowing one run in 7 1/3 IP. The game's lone run scores in the 3rd when DH Jonash Ponce drives in 1B Juan Diego Lozano.

October 16

•  South Korea 12,  Philippines 2. 1B Juan Diego Lozano homered off Jin-su Kim with one out in the top of the first, but South Korea scored two off Junmar Diarao in the 2nd for the first runs the Filipinos had allowed and the Koreans never looked back. Lozano drove in 2B Jennald Pareja with the Philippines' other run in the 6th, by which time they were down 10-2. SS Ju-chan Lee and 3B Min Park each had three hits.
•  People's Republic of China 11,  Pakistan 1. China goes back to Enting Cui after one day off and he delivers, with one unearned run in 6 1/3 innings for the win against Abubakar Virk. China's offense is led by the middle infield as 2B Jinjun Luo has 3 hits and 3 runs and SS Jin Yang drives in 3. 1B Asad Ali and CF Muhammad Majeed each have two hits for Pakistan.
•  Chinese Taipei 17,  Sri Lanka 0. Po-Yu Chen and Tsung-Hao Wang combine on a five-inning mercy rule one-hitter, with only 2B Niroshan Munindralage getting a hit for Sri Lanka. Kamal Galahitiyawe Gedara took the loss. RF Chih-Yu Tsai and 2B Po-Ting Hsiao each drove in four, while 1B Han Lin scored four and missed a cycle by a triple.
•  Japan 15,  Hong Kong 0. Japan and Taiwan move to the Super Round from their pool as Japan pulls off the 4th mercy rule rout of the day. Yuichiro Okano and Masaru Fujii combine on a seven-inning no-hitter, walking only one and fanning 13. Only SS Hoi-Ting Cheng's walk stops a perfect game. Yik-Shun Yiu and five relievers allow 14 hits in 28 at-bats, with LF Takumi Horikoshi going 3 for 3 with 3 runs.

October 17

•  Japan 15,  Sri Lanka 0. Yasuaki Ojima and Shota Abe combine on a two-hitter, with 3B Sandun Kuruppu Arachchige and C Sahan Gangoda Gamage getting the hits. CF Tatsuhiko Satoh drove in 3. Sasika Jayasinghe Archichige Don allowed six runs (five earned) while retiring none.

October 18

•  Japan 11,  People's Republic of China 1. Yoshiki Yamada allowed one run in five while fanning seven and 3B Kazuya Shimokawa drove in four. Haonan Zhang lasted one inning for China, giving up 3 runs; their only run came when SS Jin Yang drove in RF Nan Du in the 4th.
•  Chinese Taipei 7,  South Korea 1. The hosts increased their chances of a spot in the Gold Medal Game as five pitchers combined to hold South Korea to one run; Hsin-Chieh Lin got the win. The offense was paced by 3 hits apiece from RF Chen-Yu Yang and 2B Tzu-Wei Lin. Hyeong-jun So got the loss. South Korea's run came in the 7th when the game was already out of hand, with C Jin-su Jeong being driven home by DH Hyo-seung Ryu.
•  Sri Lanka 10,  Pakistan 1. Sri Lanka beat Pakistan for the first time in an Asian Championship but the 3rd time in their past 4 meetings. Madumal Ponna Handi Tharidu got the win while Kamal Galahitiyawe Gedara faced the minimum over the final 4 2/3 IP. Atif Ahmad took the loss. LF Amila Galbokka Hewage had 3 hits, 2 runs and a RBI. CF Muhammad Majeed drove in 3B Muhammad Hussain with Pakistan's only run.
•  Philippines 10,  Hong Kong 0. Francis Gesmundo tosses another gem, allowing four hits in seven shutout innings while 2B Jennald Pareja has 3 hits and 4 RBI and 1B Juan Diego Lozano falls a homer shy of a cycle. CF Ho-Lam Andy Lo had half of Hong Kong's four hits; Yu-Chung Leung took the defeat. The Philippines had tied atop their pool in round 1 at 2-1 but South Korea and China edged them in the tiebreaker.

October 19

•  Hong Kong 17,  Pakistan 7. Pakistan tops one run for the first time this tournament but they still finish last for the first time since 2003. DH Wing-Sing Li, 1B Matthew Holliday and RF Ho-Nam Leung each drive in four, while SS Hoi-Ting Cheng goes 3 for 3 with 3 runs and 3 RBI. Lai-Him Lam is the winner despite allowing over a run per inning, while Rizwan Ali lasts one batter in taking the loss. 1B Asad Ali drove in 3.
•  Philippines 7,  Sri Lanka 1. The Philippines finish the event at 4-1 and a strong 5th place. Junmar Diarao gets the win with six shutout innings of relief and CF Jennald Pareja has 3 hits and 2 runs. 3B Sandun Kuruppu Arachchige gets three hits for Sri Lanka. Sugath De Silva is the losing hurler.
•  Japan 11,  South Korea 3. Japan remained unbeaten as Shota Abe, Masaru Fujii and Yasuaki Ojima combine to struck out 16 to beat Yee-kyung Choi and company. DH Shohei Morishita had 3 hits and 3 runs and CF Tatsuhiko Satoh raps 3 hits as well. 3B Kyeong-Kim drives in all 3 runs for the Koreans.
•  Chinese Taipei 10,  People's Republic of China 2. Taiwan moves on to the Gold Medal Game, Sheng-Feng Wu getting the win against Haonan Zhang. 1B Chien-Ming Chiang has 3 hits and 3 runs, LF Tzu-Wei Lin drives in 3, 3B Wei-Chih Chen has 3 hits and DH Po-Ting Hsiao goes 3 for 3. 1B Junpeng Chen drives in both of China's runs.

October 20

•  People's Republic of China 8,  South Korea 6. China gets its second Bronze ever in an Asian Championship, rallying from a 6-2 deficit in the bottom of the 8th to win. 2B Jinjun Luo went 4 for 5 with two runs and three RBI while 1B Junpeng Chen and DH Chuang Na each get three hits. Tao Zhang gets the win. For South Korea, 1B Tae-seong Choe and RF Ji-hoon Choi each have three hits in a losing cause while Jae-min Kang gets the decision.
•  Chinese Taipei 5,  Japan 4. Japan scored in each of the first four innings against Kai-Wei Teng and Yu-Hao Cheng but Tsung-Hao Wang and Chih-Jung Liu provided superb relief with 12 K, 3 H, 1 BB and no runs in 5 2/3 innings. C Jin-De Jhang hit a bases-loaded triple off Yoshiki Yamada in the 2nd to give Taiwan its first lead. In the top of the 5th, 1B Chien-Ming Chiang doubled in two (one of his three hits today) for the winning blow. SS Hiroto Kobukata scored twice and DH Shohei Morishita drove in two for Japan.

Final Standings

1.  Chinese Taipei
2.  Japan
3.  People's Republic of China
4.  South Korea
5.  Philippines
6.  Hong Kong
7.  Sri Lanka
8.  Pakistan

Awards

• MVP: Chih-Jung Liu,  Chinese Taipei
• Outstanding Defensive Player: Tae-seong Choe,  South Korea

All-Star Team

• P: Yasuaki Ojima,  Japan
• C: Ho-Nam Leung,  Hong Kong
• 1B: Juan Diego Lozano,  Philippines
• 2B: Jennald Pareja,  Philippines
• SS: Chun-Kai Liao,  Chinese Taipei
• 3B: Wei-Chih Chen,  Chinese Taipei
• OF: Seong-bin Hwang,  South Korea
• OF: Nan Du,  People's Republic of China
• OF: Chih-Yu Tsai,  Chinese Taipei
• DH: Tatsuhiko Satoh,  Japan