Asia Pacific downs Indiana in quarterfinals

Early on, it appeared we were in for a pitcher's duel between Asia Pacific and Indiana.

That thought quickly disappeared as the Asia Pacific offense came alive to knock off Indiana 10-0 on Friday at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.

Asia Pacific jumped out to the lead in the bottom of the third inning after Cheng-En Cai singled home a pair of runs to make it 2-0.

The damage wouldn’t stop there as they would plate three more runs to make it 5-0 after three innings.

While the offense for Asia Pacific showed its brilliance, the star of the show was starting pitcher Yu-Peng Li.

He tossed five scoreless innings allowing no runs on just one hit while striking out six.

“He throws strikes and he throws the upper 80s,” Indiana coach Sam Michel said. “he threw his pitches wherever he wanted and we swung at pitches that he wanted us to swing at and we took pitches we probably should have hit. He didn’t make too many mistakes and the few he did we were back on our heels.”

Asia Pacific would tack on runs in the fourth and fifth innings to end the game due to mercy rule with a 10-0 win. T Wang homered in the fourth inning to score Shih-Kai Kao. Meng Chu closed out the game with a three-run double in the fifth inning. After Cai and Ma scored, Po-Ting Lin then scored the final run on an error.

Sean Harder took the loss for Indiana after giving up five runs on four hits and two strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. Highland's only hit of the game came on a single in the second inning by Jayden Rhyne.

Asia Pacific advances to the semifinals where they await the winner of Alabama and Canada. The semifinal matchup is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, at Capaha Field.