South Korea goes 9-0 to win Olympic baseball gold

Seconds after Chong Tae-hyon's final pitch that secured an Olympic gold medal for the South Korean baseball team, 23 of his teammates stormed the mound in jubilation, with 14 of them no doubt more ecstatic than the others.

Chong induced Cuban second baseman Yuliesky Gourriel to ground into a double-play with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, putting the finishing touches on a 3-2 win at Beijing's Wukesong Baseball Field on Saturday.

Korea wasn't considered a medal favourite in the men's tournament, but went unbeaten in all nine of its games to win gold in its first-ever appearance in the Olympic final.

As a result, 14 members of the team won't have to report for two years of military duty.

Earlier Saturday, the United States doubled Japan 8-4 to win bronze after failing to qualify for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

But it will be the performance by South Korea that will long be remembered as an upset in baseball's last Olympic hurrah for at least eight years.

The sport has been lifted from the Olympic program for the 2012 Summer Games in London, but is eligible for readmission in 2016.

The defending Olympic champion Cubans didn't go down without a fight en route to their fifth consecutive medal performance in baseball.

With Korean starter Ryu Hyunjin having lost command and looking tired in the ninth inning, Cuba (7-2) took advantage.

Hector Olivera led off with a single and was bunted to second base by Michel Enriquez. The left-handed Ryu then issued back-to-back walks to Frederich Cepeda and Alexei Bell, who had homered in the seventh to cut the Korean lead to 3-2.

Catcher Kang Min-ho vehemently argued the call on the walk to Bell before being ejected by home plate umpire Carlos Rey Cotto of Puerto Rico. Kang angrily threw his mask, a ball and then his glove into the dugout.

Korea manager Kim Kyung-moon then summoned Chong from the bullpen and watched his closer get Gourriel to ground out on an 0-2 pitch for his second save of the tourney.

The Koreans erupted in a pile of red and white on the mound, throwing their manager into the air before taking a victory lap around Wukesong Stadium while waving flags.

Ryu made two mistakes in his otherwise stellar 8 1/3 innings of work, allowing home runs to Bell and Enriquez. He gave up five hits and struck out seven for his second win in Beijing.

At one point, he set down 12 batters in a row — five via strikeout — before Cuban designated hitter Alfredo Despaigne hit a double in the fifth.

Despaigne hit one of his team's four home runs in a 10-2 waxing of the U.S. in the semifinals.

Cuban Norberto Gonzalez (0-1) was saddled with the loss in the final after yielding Lee Seungyuop's two-run blast with two out in the first. He allowed only one hit for the remainder of his 5 2/3-inning stint and fanned two.

Lee Yongkyu doubled off reliever Pedro Lazo to plate the other run for Korea, which became the first unbeaten Olympic baseball champion since Cuba in 1992 and 1996.

The South Koreans also defeated Cuba 7-4 in the preliminary round.

They advanced to the gold-medal contest following a 6-2 semifinal victory over Japan on Friday.