GK goes down in the eighth for sore loss

GEELONG- KOREA squandered a promising start to its Australian Baseball League series opener against Auckland, falling 10-5 at Geelong Baseball Centre last night.

The visitors scored six runs and batted around in the eighth inning to pull off a come-from-behind win.

GK raced to a 5-2 lead after five innings before the Tuatara rallied to take game one of the series and further damage Geelong-Korea’s playoff hopes.

The hosts scored the opening run when Jong-Hyuk Lim scored on an error after leading off the first with a single.

GK hit back in the third after Auckland took the lead.

Hak-Jun Noh singled and then stole second and third base before scoring on a single from Joon-Suk Choi.

Noh provided a spark for Geelong-Korea, the 19-yearold outfielder collecting three hits, scoring two runs and stealing a team single-game record four stolen bases.

Noh singled and stole another two bases before scoring in the fifth.

Hwi-Yeon Park’s two-run double extend GK’s lead to three runs.

But the Tuatara offence fired in the eighth to inflict Geelong-Korea’s eighthstraight loss.

Zach Clark, Kris Richards and Taylor Snyder homered for Auckland.

GK starter Jin-Yong Jang allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts in six innings.

Geelong-Korea had 12 hits but left 11 runners on base.

Thursday night’s originally scheduled series opener was washed out, paving the way for a double-header at Geelong Baseball Centre today.

Game one starts at 3.30pm followed by a 7pm game.