TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan baseball team Goatbros crushed Japan's Masters Koshien 16-0 in the World Masters Games baseball opener on Thursday at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium.
The game was the first match of the 35-and-older men's category at the event. Most of the Goatbros team members are former Chinese Professional Baseball League, CPBL, players. The head coach is Lu Yu-hua (呂祐華), who also coaches the National Taiwan University baseball team, per CNA.
The match featured 49-year-old former Brother Elephants player Wu Chun-i (吳俊億) as the starting pitcher. He pitched two scoreless innings, retiring the side in order. Goatbros scored 6 runs in the bottom of the first inning, including 2 home runs.
Another Goatbros member, Chou Szu-chi (周思齊), pinch-hit in the bottom of the second inning with the bases loaded and hit a deep fly ball, nearly clearing the bases for a grand slam. Although Chou missed a home run, he expressed his delight at reuniting with his former teammates and playing together again.
In the top of the third inning, Pan Song-wei (潘菘瑋), who has experience playing in the US and many years in the CPBL, came in as the relief pitcher and retired the side in order. His fastest pitch during the game reached 130 kilometers per hour.
According to the World Masters Games, the event’s baseball preliminaries follow a seven-inning format, with each game limited to 90 minutes. Therefore, Goatbros concluded the game at the end of the third inning and secured the victory.
Japan's Masters Koshien team is mostly made up of amateur players. The team said that they were glad to play against Taiwan’s former professional players and invited the Taiwanese team for a rematch at the 2027 World Masters Games in Kansai.
On Friday, Goatbros will face another team from Taiwan, Energy, which is also composed of former CPBL players, at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium. Chou hopes that Goatbros can win the game and go on to claim the championship in the 35-and-older men's category.
