Samurai Japan beats South Korea to win Asia Professional Baseball Championship

Tomoya Masaki and Rui Muneyama put on quite the show at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship. 

So did the rest of their Samurai Japan teammates. 

Masaki hit a three-run home run in the final and Hiroto Takahashi threw seven frames of one-run ball as Japan beat South Korea 5-1 to capture the title in front of a crowd of 36,022 at Tokyo Dome on Sunday night.

The APBC is a U-24 tournament that also features Australia, South Korea and Taiwan.

Australia defeated Taiwan 6-4 in the third-place game earlier in the day. 

Japan captured the title for the third time after winning the inaugural edition in 2017 and taking the crown again in 2023. The Japanese have never lost in the APBC improving to 11-0 with Sunday’s victory.

The result gave Samurai Japan manager Tadahito Iguchi the perfect start to his tenure in the dugout. Iguchi was hired in July to take over from Hirokazu Ibata and guide Japan in next year’s Premier12 and at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, if the nation qualifies.

The players gathered near the mound after the game and tossed Iguchi into the air three times as they celebrated.