Sports Briefs

BASEBALL

Giants’ Hwang Jae-gyun hits his third homer of season

Hwang Jae-gyun of the San Francisco Giants hit his third home run of the season during an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds at the Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona on Saturday.

Hwang, who played as the seventh batter and the third baseman, hit a solo home run during the second inning against Scott Fedman while the Giants were tied at 1-1.

With Hwang’s home run, the Giants took the lead 2-1 and won the game with a final score of 9-7. However, Hwang’s hits in the remaining innings led to poor batting as he wasn’t able to score a hit for the rest of the game.

During the Giants’ exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians on Friday, Hwang had a timely hit.

Hwang concluded the game early as he was switched with Miguel Gomez in the beginning of seventh inning.

Although Hwang gets little playing time, he continues to leave a strong impression after each game as he continually improves. With his performance, Hwang gets closer to earning his spot on the 25-man roster with a 0.333 batting average with three home runs and seven runs batted in.

After playing for the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization for six seasons, Hwang signed a minor-league contract with the Giants and is currently playing exhibition games on an invitation to spring training.

VOLLEYBALL

Seoul Woori Card defeated in home game vs. Gumi KB

The Seoul Woori Card Wibee lost its home match against the Gumi KB Insurance Stars 3-2 at the Jangchung Gymnasium on Sunday.

The Wibee lost in the last set 15-10. With the loss, the Wibee closes its season with 17 wins and 19 losses with 55 points at fifth place in the V-league ranking.

Krisztian Padar led the team with 33 points with four blocks followed by Choi Hong-suk, who recorded 13 points.

Although the Wibee failed to play in the playoff series, the team showed great improvement as they finished last in the league for two previous seasons.

During its 2014-15 season, they had three wins and 33 losses. In the 2015-16 season, the team showed slight improvement by winning seven games, but still, they remained in the bottom of the standing.

However, the team made the biggest upset by getting ranked as high as second place.

With the team’s performance, the number of fans visiting to watch the games increased as well. As the teams got into fierce competition towards the end of the season, the Wibee was unable to maintain its ranking from the league.

“Although we couldn’t advance to the playoff series, it was a meaning season as the players gained confidence and improved on their records as well as teamwork,” Kim Sang-woo, manager of the Wibee, said.

The Stars also concludes their season with a record of 14 wins and 22 losses with 43 points at sixth place in the league.