Korea beats China to reach baseball final and Japan rematch

Korea overcame an early deficit to defeat China 9-2 and reach the baseball gold medal game at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Saturday, now a victory away from its fifth consecutive title.

Starter Choi Min-seok tossed seven innings of one-run ball, and four players picked up at least two hits for Korea in the teams' second Super Round game at Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium in Toyohashi.

Japan stands in the way in Sunday's final, giving Korea a chance to avenge a 5-0 loss in the opening Super Round game Friday night.

Despite fielding a team made up of KBO stars, Korea managed just four hits against Japan's team of amateurs. Korea's bats then woke up against China on Saturday to the tune of 14 hits, after the start of the game was delayed by about an hour due to rain.

Choi allowed an RBI single to Luan Chenchen in the top of the first inning to put Korea in a 1-0 hole, but Korea answered with two runs in the bottom first, thanks to a Chinese error.

Kim Ji-chan doubled home a run and then scored on a groundout for a 4-1 Korean lead.

A single by Kim Ju-won made it a 5-1 game in the bottom sixth, before Kim Do-yeong was hit by a pitch to push in another run.

Korea tacked on two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.

Yonhap