Out with the old: Korea wins gold
BEIJING (AP) -- South Korean Bong Jung-keun collected some red clay from the pitcher's mound and carried it away in an empty water bottle, a treasure from the night he won Olympic gold and beat the mighty Cubans.
"I will keep it until I die," the elated Bong said, still coming to grips with his team's most improbable finish in the Beijing Games. "I have a 13-month-old son and someday I will share it with him."
South Korea captured gold and capped a perfect Olympic run with the country's biggest win yet in international baseball, a 3-2 victory over defending champion Cuba on Saturday night.
Far from flashy and just plain steady all tournament long, the South Koreans (9-0) pulled off what will long be remembered as an upset in baseball's last Olympic hurrah for at least eight years.
Cuba and Japan were widely considered the favorites coming into these games, but the U.S. beat the Japanese 8-4 earlier Saturday for bronze.
South Korean reliever Chong Tae-hyon got Yuliesky Gourriel to ground into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to end it after a dramatic ninth inning.
"It was awesome," Bong said. "This is outstanding. We didn't even think about getting a gold medal. We were thinking third place, that was our goal. Every game we gave not 100 percent but 200 percent."
Lee Seung-yuop put his team ahead on a two-run homer in the first inning and Lee Yong-kyu added an RBI double in the seventh, helping South Korea become the first unbeaten Olympic baseball champion since Cuba in 1992 and again in '96.
Cuba (7-2), the perennial world powerhouse and lone representative from baseball-crazed Latin America in the eight-team Olympic field, dropped only two games in China - both to the first-time gold medalists.
"They fought hard all the way," Cuban manager Antonio Pacheco said of his opponent.
The Cubans loaded the bases in the ninth against South Korea starter Ryu Hyun-jin, who allowed Hector Olivera's leadoff single and walked Fredrich Cepeda one out later. Alexei Bell drew a walk and South Korean catcher Kang Min-ho vehemently argued the call before being ejected by home plate umpire Carlos Rey Cotto of Puerto Rico. Kang angrily threw his mask, a ball and then his glove into the dugout.
South Korea skipper Kim Kyung-moon then sent Chong to the mound to face Gourriel, who chopped an 0-2 pitch for a grounder to shortstop Park Jin-man.
"I just prayed," Bong said of his nerves in the dugout. "Even in the ninth inning, we were still ahead. We believe in our pitchers, our infielders and our outfielders."
The South Koreans erupted in a pile of red and white on the mound, throwing their manager into the air before taking a victory lap around Wukesong Stadium waving flags.
"We've had good luck all tournament. We had good luck tonight," Kim said.
Cuba wanted nothing more than to leave with another Olympic title, but now must instead turn its attention toward next spring's second World Baseball Classic. The Cubans lost to Japan in the final of the inaugural event in 2006.
Most of the Cubans stood on the medal podium with their heads down, a crying shortstop Eduardo Paret leaning on one knee with his face buried in his right hand. After the ceremony, center fielder Giorbis Duvergel removed his medal, bunched it up and put it in the back right pocket of his uniform pants.
"We faced some great pitching from Korea," Pacheco said. "We came looking for the gold, so we're not totally satisfied but we played with dignity and our heart. That's why we're still a little satisfied."
Baseball comes off the program for the 2012 London Games and there's no guarantee it will return in 2016 despite the campaigning of the sport's international federation and support from Major League Baseball.
Lee Yong-kyu's seventh-inning double came off the Cubans' best reliever, Pedro Lazo - the same pitcher who had thrown three scoreless innings during a 10-2 rout of the U.S. team in Friday's semifinals.
Lee Yong-kyu pumped both arms at his sides after reaching second, then threw his hands into the air in delight, calling for more noise from his cheering countrymen in the right-field seats.
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Baseball: Bronze medal game
The United States claimed one of the final three Olympic baseball medals when it won bronze. It may be the last chance for one of its kind, as baseball will not be played in 2012.
- First meeting: South Korea 7, Cuba 4
- Baseball: Cuba advances to gold medal game
- Baseball: South Korea 6, Japan 2, semifinals
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Game images
- South Korea: Baseball's new king
- Baseball: U.S. beats Japan for bronze
- Baseball: Cuba 10, U.S. 2, semifinals
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For the South Koreans, this victory provided a big bonus, as 14 of their players had already secured a medal and an exemption from mandatory military service with Friday's 6-2 semifinal victory over Japan. By law, the South Korean government exempts male athletes who earn any medal in the Olympics from the approximately two years of required duty.
Michel Enriquez hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first and he was the only Cuban to reach base against the imposing Ryu until Alfredo Despaigne's two-out double in the fifth. Bell connected for a solo shot in the seventh.
Cuba was trying to win its fourth Olympic gold in the five baseball tournaments dating to 1992 in which baseball has been a medal sport.
The South Koreans handed Cuba its only other loss in the tournament, a 7-4 win Tuesday in which the Cubans committed a two-run error in the fourth.
Cuba made a costly mistake in this game, too.
Lee Yong-kyu hit a shallow fly ball to center in the first that landed between the second baseman, shortstop and center fielder as all were going after the ball. Lee Seung-yuop hit a two-run homer one out later.
"We lost the game because of that play," Pacheco said.
Norberto Gonzalez had 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fifth, then Cuba turned to Lazo with two outs and a runner on second in the sixth.
The burly right-hander worked out of that jam and retired the first two batters in the sixth before running into trouble.
Cuba's large crowd of fans included a lively group of college students who received scholarships back home to attend school in China. They blew screeching horns from their seats along the third-base line, banged thunder sticks and chanted and cheered for much of the game.
Yet the emotional South Korean supporters were the ones who stayed put long after the final out, singing along to their national anthem right along with the players. And the victors paid tribute with waves and tips of their bright blue caps.