Tokyo, Aug. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's national university baseball team bounced back from a disappointing loss and its worst finish in the World University Baseball Championship to rout Sri Lanka 21-0 in five innings Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.
The Taiwan team is scheduled to play Canada for the fifth place Friday in Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Stadium. But whether Taiwan wins or loses that game, this year will be its worst showing at the tournament. Taiwan finished third in 2008, second in 2006 and fourth in 2004 and 2002.
In the quarterfinal game against Japan Wednesday, Taiwan was blanked 0-13 in seven innings.
The defeat dealt a devastating blow to the team but also served as a great lesson, said team manager Yeh Chih-shien, who has participated in all five championships.
"These players are among the best at the college and amateur level in Taiwan, " he said. " We've learned from the loss that Taiwan still has a long way to go to compete with the best teams in the world," he added.
By Thursday, the team had reorganized and it blasted 19 hits against Sri Lanka. Newcomer Huang Yi-kun had three hits, including two home runs, and drove in six runs.
Yeh, who was not happy with Taiwan's inconsistent offense, said that the key against Canada will once again be the team's offensive performance.
The semifinalists in the tournament are Cuba, South Korea, the United States and host Japan.
The tournament will end Saturday. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc