All-Star Korean baseball team visits Diamond Bar
February 22, 2017
Visiting from the other side of the globe, the all-boys Baemyong High School baseball team arrived in the beginning of February to play in an exhibition match against the Brahmas, winning the game 5-3.
The team is traveling America to play against as many high school teams as it can before it returns to Korea mid-March. The Brahmas arranged a match with the Koreans after the umpire who is arranging the matches for the Korean team contacted the pitching coach.
Although it was originally scheduled for Feb. 9, the game was continuously pushed back due to the heavy amounts of rain.
The exhibition match was largely dominated by Diamond Bar for the first few innings, with the Brahmas scoring three points in the first inning. However, the Baemyong boys started to catch up during the fifth inning and eventually took over the match, winning 5-3.
“It was a great experience for the boys since they got to be exposed to something they are not used to. They got to see how fundamentally sound they are since they come from a culture that prepares well in advance,” head coach Jonathan Hurst said.
Although Baemyong won, the boys feel as though the match against the Brahmas was a eye-opening experience. It was a welcome change according to senior Kang Donghyung.
“In America, it seems as though you can comfortably play and you can relaxingly play. American teams, in comparison to Korean teams, seem to be having more fun when they play,” Kang said in Korean.
Hurst hopes to have more international teams play against the boys and help to expose them to different baseball cultures.
“The opportunity had not really arisen until this year. Now that it is there though, we will definitely be taking advantage of it,” Hurst said.
