China to take on Chinese Taipei

Loser will be eliminated; winner will play Japan or Korea

By Wayne Graczyk / MLB.com

World Baseball Classic Headlines

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TOKYO -- China will meet Chinese Taipei in Game 3 of the 2009 World Baseball Classic Pool A, Asia Round, in a day game at Tokyo Dome on Saturday. Both clubs lost their opening games in the tournament, and the loser of this game will be eliminated. The winner will stay alive and play again on Sunday against the loser of Saturday night's Game 4 between Japan and Korea.

China is hoping for a repeat of its 8-7 victory over Chinese Taipei in the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, while Chinese Taipei will be trying to duplicate the results of the 2006 World Baseball Classic, when it defeated China 12-2.

Team China manager Terry Collins has designated right-hander Lu Jiangang as his starting pitcher, while Chinese Taipei skipper Chih-Shien Yeh will call on right-hander Yueh-Ping Lin.

The China team is confident after playing a hard-fought game against Japan on Thursday night, losing 4-0 but matching the Japanese side in total hits for the game with five.

"We need key hits to beat Chinese Taipei," said Collins, whose club put men on base against Japan but could not score. "The two-out hit with runners in scoring position is huge. We have to figure a way to get them in."

Chinese Taipei manager Yeh will be looking to avenge the loss to China in the Olympics.

"We will feel a lot of pressure in this game," Yeh said following his team's 9-0 loss to Korea on Friday night, "but we learned a lot from the defeat to China in the Olympics, and I think we will be OK."

Wayne Graczyk is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.