The KT Wiz’s infield is made up of veterans.
All of the infielders who started in the first and second rounds of the playoffs (PO), including second baseman Park Kyung-soo (39), first baseman Park Byung-ho (37), third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun (36), shortstop Kim Sang-soo (33), and catcher Jang Jang-woo (33), are in their 30s.
Their playing experience is the highest among the infielders of the 10 clubs.
KT’s infield has been dominating the KBO since before its PO opponent, the NC Dinos, was founded.
They also have a lot of postseason experience. Not a single KT infielder hasn’t played fall ball.
Park Byung-ho and Hwang Jae-gyun have even played in the Major League Baseball (MLB).
This makes the errors in the first and second games of this year’s PO all the more bitter.
KT lost the first game of the NC and PO at Katie Weeds Park in Suwon on the 30th due to a throwing error by third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun.
In the top of the third inning, trailing 0-2, Hwang missed an infield hit by the opposing team’s leadoff hitter, Park Min-woo.
Hwang Jae-gyun didn’t see where the ball was going to land and fumbled, allowing Park Min-woo to reach first base.
The error led to a run. KT starter William Cuevas was shaken up badly and gave up two runs on singles to Park Gun-woo and Kwon Hee-dong, making it 0-4.
KT was unable to overcome the deficit and lost the game 5-9.
The ghost of errors haunted KT in the second game of the PO at the same venue on the 31st. This time, it was Park Byung-ho who committed the fatal error.
Trailing 0-2 in the top of the third inning, Byung-ho Park dropped an infield grounder by Son As-seob with no outs, allowing Kim Joo-won to score from third base to make the score 0-3.
In the fifth inning, Hwang Jae-gyun made another mistake after the first inning of the PO.
He missed Park Min-woo’s hard-hit ball in the second inning, allowing the runner to score. Although no further runs were scored, the team’s mood sank heavily.
For the second day in a row, the veteran infielders’ errors cast a cloud over KT.
On the other hand, NC’s “young” infield, with Park Min-woo (30) as the most experienced, made a stark difference, committing only one error in five fall baseball games from the wild card deciding game to the first round of the PO. 파워볼사이트
