Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) Taiwan lost to the Netherlands 5-3 in 10 innings Saturday, missing an opportunity to vie for gold in the 2010 Intercontinental Cup baseball tournament in central Taiwan's Taichung City.
Mariekson Gregorius' two-run walk-off home run off Taiwanese closer Lo Chin-lung in the bottom of the 10th inning clinched victory for the Dutch and sent them to the title game Sunday against Cuba.
Both Taiwan and the Netherlands tied for second in the six-team semifinal group with 3-2 records, but the Dutch won the tiebreaker because of their victory over Taiwan head-to-head.
Taiwan will play for third place against Italy on Sunday.
Lin Chih-sheng's RBI single helped Taiwan pull ahead 3-2 in the top of the first extra inning, when runners were placed on first and second at the start of the inning based on international rules to help decide games more quickly.
But Taiwan's pitcher and catcher were suddenly out of synch in the bottom of the inning as the Dutch scored the tying run on a wild pitch and a passed ball, before Gregorius finished the host team off.
Taiwan's manager Yeh Chih-hsien said after the game that the players did their best, but he admitted there were problems at the plate and with player chemistry, referring to the wild pitch and passed ball in the bottom of the 10th and a base-running error that prevented Taiwan from scoring more runs in the top of the inning.
Taiwan was limited to six hits for the game while the Netherlands had nine.
Taiwan rallied to tie the score 2-2 in the seventh inning on a Kao Kuo-ching two-run double that chased Dutch starter Diegomar Markwell, who held Taiwan to one hit in the first five innings.
Taiwan's amateur left-handed starter Chen Kuan-yu, 20, yielded only five hits in 5 2/3 innings, but one of those was a home run by Curt Smith in the sixth that increased the Dutch lead to 2-0.
The Netherlands will meet undefeated Cuba in the championship game for the second straight time. Cuba beat the Netherlands for gold in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, which was also held in Taiwan. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls