The host team of the World Cup of Baseball opened their schedule on Thursday successfully. Chinese Taipei demoralized South Africa with a 16-1 rout.
Taiwan scored five runs in the first inning on two homeruns. They added three more for an 8-0 advantage, they doubled up their run totals in the seventh and last period. The Africans denied the shutout with a run in the fifth.
Third baseman Tai-Shan CHANG had four hits and two RBI in four at-bats. Chiah-Hsian HSIEN (two-run-hr in first) and Chin-Feng CHEN (three-run-hr in first) each drove in three runs.
Shortstop Brett Jurien WILLENBURG had two hits and a RBI for South Africa.
Ying-Chieh LIN (W 1-0) struck out ten in six strong innings. He gave up four hits, one run and two walks.
Robert VERSCHUREN (L 0-1) allowed five runs (4 ER) on two hits in the first and took the loss. He pitched four innings, allowing four hits and three walks overall.
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