After the formation of the professional baseball NC Dinos, the dinosaurs took a huge first step toward the first integrated championship.
The NC team that won the regular league was ranked 3rd in the regular season from the 1st leg of the 2020 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO postseason (4 wins against 7 KS), which ended at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 17th. They beat the Doosan Bears 5 to 3.
With Aaron Altair's definitive three-point home run and a perfect match for the game, NC took advantage of the Korean series' victory.
Until last year, the team that won the first game in the 37th Korean Series (not held in 1985 due to the combined pre- and late-term championships of the Samsung Lions) burst the championship champagne at 27 times, 72.9%.
On the 31st of last month, the KIA Tigers and the NC, who played 17 days after the final game in the regular league, defeated the baseline first.
At the end of the first inning, lead batter Park Min-woo pulled the flat slider of Doosan starter Raul Alcantara, who had won 20 wins, and opened up the goal with a double that fell to the right of right fielder.
In the one-out third base followed by Lee Myung-gi's send bun, Na Seong-beom pushed Alcantara's fast ball with a determination to throw a clean and timely hit, rolling in front of the left fielder.
At the end of the 4th inning, NC scored an additional goal with two balls that matched Alcantara's body as a starting point.
Leader Park Seok-min was hit by the calf and came on base, and Kwon Hee-dong, who passed the ball in the uniform after one-out, walked to first base.
Doosan pitching coach Jeong Jae-hoon, who instinctively felt the crisis at the first and second bases, came to the mound to break the flow at the bat at Aaron Altair.
However, Alcantara threw the ball in a row from the favorable ball count of 1 ball and 2 strikes, causing a full count, and again this time, he threw a sharp fork ball and was hit by a cannon.
Altair grabbed the ball coolly, flew 130m to the middle of the left, and shot a large home run falling onto the stand.
Doosan counterattacked immediately in the beginning of the 5th.
Doosan-do's leader Se-hyuk Park got a chance to chase after NC starter Drew Luchinski's ball hit the upper right arm.
After one-out, Sue-bin made 2nd and 3rd with doubles that fell on the left.
At this time, NC 3rd baseman Park Seok-min, who caught Park Gun-woo's ground ball, tried to throw the ball to first base, but he missed the ball once, so both batters and runners lived.
Third base runner Park Se-hyuk broke the silence of 0 by stepping on the groove.
Doosan got a great one-out chance with Joo-Hwan Choi's walk, but the ball that Jose Fernandez aimed at did not pass through Luchinski's crotch and was hit by a bottle, so it could not be scored.
At the beginning of the 6th episode, another opportunity came to Doosan.
After the one-out, Heo Gyeong-min came on base with a right-handed hit, and Oh Jae-il stepped on first base due to a catcher's blow.
NC catcher Yang Eui-ji's mitt touched Oh Jae-il's bat.
It was recorded as an error of positive will.
In one-out first and second base, Park Se-hyuk struck Luchinski and brought Heo Gyeong-min to the home with a double hitting the middle of the right.
Oh Jae-il, who went to third base, scored when Kim Jae-ho attacked the changed pitcher Kim Jin-sung and flew a sacrifice fly for center fielder.
However, this time again, Soo-Bin Sue struck out on the 2nd base after pursuing 4-3 and did not reach a tie.
NC Park Seok-min made up for the mistake by throwing a sacrifice fly for center fielder at the one-out third base at the end of the 8th inning, which was barely ahead of 4-3.
Following Luchinski who scored 3 innings (1 run), Jin-sung Kim (6 innings), Jeong-ho Lim (7 innings), Seong-min Hong, Chang-min Lim (more than 8 innings), and Jong-hyun Won, etc. 5 squads of bees threw 3 ⅔ innings to zero-runs. I took the lead in victory.
The second leg of both teams will be held on the 18th at 6:30 pm at the same location.
(Photo = Yonhap News)