Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) Taiwan beat Italy 6-2 in the semifinal round of the 2010 Intercontinental Cup baseball tournament in Taichung City Friday night to move within one win of the competition's championship game.
The home team, which is now 3-1 in the semifinal round, will earn its chance at revenge against perennial powerhouse Cuba in the title game if it beats the Netherlands (2-2) Saturday at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
Cuba clinched a berth in the championship game with a 4-1 win over Japan on Friday to stay undefeated at 4-0 in the six-team semifinal round. It handed Taiwan its only loss in the tournament with a 2-0 victory in the preliminary round.
The top two teams in the semifinal round will meet in the championship game while the third-place and fourth-place teams meet in the bronze medal game.
Powered by another solid performance at the plate and a dominant outing by starter Pan Wei-lun, who struck out eight Italian batters and yielded only five hits in seven innings, Taiwan jumped to a 5-2 lead after two innings and never looked back.
Though the home team committed three errors, it made up for the defensive lapses by outhitting Italy 11-7. It has had double-digit hits in all but one game in the tournament so far.
The Netherlands beat South Korea 3-1 to tie Italy (2-2) , which will meet Cuba Saturday. South Korea remained winless in the semifinal round while Japan was 1-3 after four games. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls