A second-year student with a strong sense of responsibility showed off his instincts as a clutch hitter and led Daegu High School to its 4th Phoenix Championship.
Daegu High School won the championship by defeating Segwang High School 3-2 in the final of the 51st Bonghwangdaegi National High School Baseball Tournament held at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 9th.
It was a dramatic match. Daegu High School, which gave up 2 runs in the top of the 7th inning and was down 0-2, had its last chance in the bottom of the 9th. With a walk, a single, and a balk by Sekwang High School’s Lee Yoon-jae, they had the opportunity to reach second and third base with one out, but fourth batter Park Woo-yeol struck out on a missed swing, putting them in danger of finishing second.
However, Daegu High School sophomore Hyun-jong Yang (17), who came to bat, hit Yun-jae Lee’s first pitch and split the outfield into right-center, making it a timely hit that tied the score at 2-2. Thanks to the momentum, in the 10th inning of overtime, which was a shootout with 1st and 2nd bases out, Daegu High first blocked it with a triple kill, and then scored the winning run with Lee Chan’s squeeze bunt with the bases loaded with no outs, and Daegu High School won its 4th Bonghwangdaegi title and reached the top of the national championship for the 8th time in total. It went up.
Daegu High School coach Kyung-ho Son somehow had faith even in the desperate moment when the 4th batter struck out with a missed swing with one out and 2nd and 3rd bases in the bottom of the 9th inning. Coach Son, who took office in the winter of 2016, is called a great high school baseball leader who ushered in Daegu High School’s second heyday by leading the team to four national championships and two runner-up finishes until this tournament.
After the game, Coach Son said, “(Park) Woo-yeol is the type with one shot, so I thought precise hitting wasn’t easy. If he hits it well, it’s okay, and even if he doesn’t hit it, it’s okay. Even if Woo-yeol can’t hit it, Yang Hyun-jong is behind him, so I thought I’d look forward to it.” Yang Hyun-jong said. “This year, he continued to save the team in important situations. Even when the opposing team called on Park Woo-yeol, Yang Hyeon-jong was able to solve the problem repeatedly, so I had faith in him,” he said.
In fact, in this tournament alone, Yang Hyeon-jong swept the RBI with a batting average of 0.500 (10 hits in 20 at-bats), 17 RBI, on-base percentage of 0.607, slugging percentage of 0.907, and OPS of 1.507 in 7 games, winning the MVP and most RBI awards. In a way, it was natural that Park Woo-yeol, who was in the batting order in front of him, won the highest scoring award with 14 points.
Coach Son said, “When I look at Yang Hyun-jong, I am reminded of Heo Gyeong-min (Doosan Bears), who is currently in the KBO League. He may be anxious in difficult situations, but even in such situations, he is calm and composed when throwing the ball. He is a player who is faithful to the basics, so he will grow into a player like Heo Gyeong-min in the future. “I think I will do it,” he said, continuing his praise.토토사이트
The second-year student, who even the coach was impressed by, talked about responsibility as the secret to hitting the winning shot. The feeling of regret for the previous mistake and the desire to ‘finish it myself’ were greater than the pressure of two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Yang Hyun-jong said, “I had a burden on my mind because I couldn’t catch a ball that I could have caught earlier. I thought I would have a chance at the end, but the situation was created and I went to bat with the mindset of ‘I’ll finish it within 5 seconds after seeing the first pitch, I’ll solve it.’ “I went in. Luckily, a fastball came and I was able to accurately score a hit,” he said with a smile. He added, “When there is a runner in front of me, I feel a stronger sense of responsibility to try to solve the problem. Thanks to (Park) Woo-yeol in front of me, the opposing pitchers compete with me a lot, and I think I had a good experience through this tournament.”
He caught the attention of Ama Baseball officials as he has the same name as Yang Hyun-jong (35, KIA Tigers), one of the best pitchers in the KBO League. Following his grandfather, who loved baseball, and his father, who was a Taekwondo player, he became a fan of his hometown team, the Samsung Lions, and started playing baseball in the fourth grade of elementary school. He chose Samsung’s young shortstop Lee Jae-hyeon (20) as his favorite player and dreamed of becoming a top infielder like Kim Ha-seong (28, San Diego Padres).
Yang Hyeon-jong said, “My strengths are contact and throwing ability. I like the Samsung Lions and Lee Jae-hyun, and it was great to see Jae-hyun Lee take responsibility and perform well even at a young age.” He added, “My role model is Ha-seong Kim. He is doing well in the United States and is the best shortstop in Korea. “I think of it as a role model,” he said emphatically.