TAIWAN – The La New Bears scored eight first-inning runs to defeat the Sinon Bulls 12-8 Sunday in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season opener for both teams.

The Bears, who won the CPBL 2008 second half season championship before getting swept by the Brother Elephants in the playoffs, were led at the plate by Chin-Feng “CFC” Chen, Cheng-Yu Chung and Hao-Chu Tseng.

CFC delivered a solo home run while Tseng had a double, triple and two RBIs. Long-Yi Huang added a two-run homer and American first baseman Nate Gold went 1-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in his first game in Taiwan’s professional league.

Si-Yo Wu (1-0) picked up the win for the Bears in a less than impressive season debut. The La New starter allowed nine hits and four runs in five innings of work.

Sinon starter Shoda Itsuki (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up seven runs on four hits and three walks in only 1/3 of an inning.

The Bulls got three hits apiece from Wilton Veras, Chao-Hsing Cheng, and Yi-Chuan Lin.

BROTHER ELEPHANTS BLANK UNI-PRESIDENT LIONS

Yu-Cheng Liao tossed five scoreless innings and the Brother Elephants broke open a tight game with five late runs to blank the Uni-President Lions, 7-0, Sunday in front of 5,065 fans in CPBL action from Taiwan.

Liao (1-0) struck out three and limited the reigning league champion to just three hits and a walk in five sparkling innings.

Uni-President starter Chris Gissell (0-1) also pitched well in a losing effort. The American gave up just one unearned run on three hits in six innings while registering eight strikeouts.

Five players led by Cheng-Min “Chia Chia” Peng, who swiped his 14th consecutive base dating back to last season, stroked two hits apiece for the Elephants. Shortstop Sheng-Wei Wang stole a base and drove in two runs, and Chih-Peng Chen had a double and an RBI.

The Lions, which managed just five hits, were paced by Wu-Hsiung Pan who went 2-for-4.

CPBL STANDINGS

Tags: Taiwan