Busan High School challenges to win the Golden Lion for the first time in history. Busan High School defeated Gangneung High School 6-1 in the semi-final against Gangneung High School held at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the afternoon of the 25th and advanced to the final. It is the first time in 31 years since 1992 that Busan High School reached the final of the Golden Lion.
They were two schools that had already competed against each other in the finals of last year’s phoenix. At that time, in the final of the phoenix game, Busan High School defeated Gangneung High School 1-0 at the end of the pitcher’s battle and won the championship. In Busan High School, Won Sang-hyun, who was a sophomore at the time, led the pitching battle with a scoreless score of 8.1 innings.
However, Won Sang-hyun left due to an injury, and the ‘rematch’ with Gangneung High School failed. Then the batters responded. Busan High School, which almost scored every inning, managed to win on the mound thanks to Young-gun Kim Dong-hoo’s no-hit pitching in 4.2 innings. Busan High School will face Sunrin Internet High School in the finals at 10:00 am on the 27th.
One run in each inning… The mound responded
with an average ERA of 1.54, which was the lowest among the teams advancing to the quarterfinals. Busan High School, where key players could no longer play in the game due to the pitch limit, made 3rd grader Cho Min-woo the starter. At Gangneung High School, freshman Park Ji-hoon took charge of the mound at the beginning of the game as a starting pitcher.
At the start of the game, both teams placed runners in scoring position, but could not score. The first priority was Gangneung High School. At the beginning of the second inning, Gangneung High School made a run first with a sacrifice fly after Yul-ye Lee, who was the fourth hitter, hit a triple that went all the way to the wall. At the end of the 2nd inning, Busan High School rebalanced thanks to Yeon Jun-won’s timely hit.
The batting line of Busan High School started to gain strength in earnest. Busan High School showed consistency rather than concentration in other lines. There were no big innings where three or four points were scored at once, but he began to score consecutively for 4 innings from the 2nd to the 5th. At the end of the 3rd inning, Busan High School ran away with one point thanks to Yang Hyuk-jun’s sacrifice bunt. It was unfortunate that one more runner rushed home and got out.
In the 4th inning, Gangneung High School changed pitcher Jo Dae-hyeon. Cho Dae-hyun, who is continuing his two-hit game, continued pitching scoreless in this tournament, but Yeon Jun-won broke the scoreless streak by making a timely hit. The score was 3 to 1. Busan High scored another point in the 5th inning with Yang Hyuk-jun’s huge double.
At Busan High School, second-year sidearm Kim Dong-hoo’s pitching shone. Kim Dong-hoo, who took the mound from the 4th inning, calmed Gangneung High School’s batting line based on his tall pitch. Kim Dong-hoo continued his perfect pitching with three strikeouts in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings, catching the eyes of scouts on the field.먹튀검증
In the 7th inning, the perfect streak was broken by giving up 2 walks, but Kim Dong-hoo, who went 4.2 innings with no hits until 2 outs in the 8th inning, threw his 60th ball into the strike zone and promised to play in the finals. Cheon-gyeom, who took the mound, also ended the inning with a scoreless run.
In the bottom of the 7th and 8th innings, Busan High School scored one run at a time, and in the beginning of the 9th inning, Yeon Jun-won, who was also active at bat, caught a fly from center fielder that made the final out and secured the victory. It was the moment when Busan High School advanced to the final stage of the Golden Lion for the first time in 20 years.
“I wished to meet you in the finals the day after tomorrow… it really came true”
Kim Dong-hoo, who showed no-hit pitching for 4.1 innings that day, laughed, saying, “I prepared hard in the weekend league because I wanted to pitch well in the national competition, but I think I pitched well today.” Kim Dong-hoo also revealed his mindset for making a good fight in the semi-finals, saying, “In the final against Gangneung High School last year, (won) Sang-hyun threw confidently and competed quickly, so I threw with the mindset to do like Sang-hyun.”
Of course, it wasn’t without fear. Kim Dong-hoo said, “I was afraid when the opponents were good players, but I trusted my ball and threw it confidently and won.”
Kim Dong-hoo appeared on JTBC’s baseball entertainment program <Strongest Baseball> and showed pitching for 3 scoreless innings. Kim Dong-hoo said, “It was a good opportunity at that time,” and “I was stressed because the ball wasn’t thrown well, but in <The Strongest Baseball>, I didn’t think of it as entertainment, but thought that I should throw it well. I was nervous, but I think I found confidence through the game.”
Player Kim Dong-hoo laughed, saying, “I want to throw with more confidence when I reach the finals.”
After the victory, coach Park Gye-won of Busan High School also said, “I was worried because the mound at Gangneung High School was good today.” He said of his victory. In particular, coach Park praised, “Won Sang-hyun was sidelined due to an injury, and Seong Young-tak and Kim Jeong-yeop were limited in the number of pitches, but (Kim) Dong-hoo did very well.”
Coach Park Gye-won said, “Gangneung High School has been in the top position for several years, and it’s good that we did so well against such a team.” He also shared his impressions of the rematch with Gangneung High School.
Director Park Gye-won said, “I’m close with coach Park Deok-hee of Sunrin Internet High School, and before the semi-finals, we exchanged good wishes, saying, ‘I hope we can play together the day after tomorrow.'” He was amazed, saying, “But it really came true.”
But a win is a win. Coach Park said, “The day after tomorrow, we can put in all of Seong Young-tak, Kim Jeong-yeop, and Kim Dong-hoo,” and said, “We will play a game where we have the upper hand on the mound,” reaffirming his determination for the final.
‘Rematch in 57 years’, which school will laugh
Only two schools, Sunrin Internet High School and Busan High School, remain in the Golden Lion Tournament. In the end, the main character of the Golden Lion Award must be covered through the finals. Coincidentally, it is the first time in 57 years that the two schools face each other in the Golden Lion, since the final match held at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium in 1966. In the 1966 final, Sunrin Commercial High School defeated Busan High School 4-0.
The achievements made by the two schools in the Golden Lion are quite different. Sunrin Internet High School had five Golden Lion Awards, including the championship until 2015, but Busan High School was the only one of the four national competitions (Golden Lion Flag, Blue Dragon Flag, Presidential Cup, and Phoenix Flag) hosted by newspapers to win the Golden Lion Award. No winning record.
The Golden Lion records of the two schools are also unique. In 1992, which was the final match for Busan High School, Son Min-han, Joo Hyeong-gwang, and Jin Gab-yong entered the roster to play, but the championship was blocked by Baemyeong High School, where Lee Kyung-pil and Kim Dong-ju played an active role. Sunrin Internet High also won the championship in 2015 based on the split of two aces.
The two schools will face off in the finals of the Golden Lion at Mokdong Baseball Stadium on the 27th at 10:00 am. Attention is focusing on whether Sunrin Internet High School players will be able to lift the 6th Golden Lion Award, or whether Busan High School will be able to fly the golden lion in the sky in Mok-dong, which has never been held before.