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It was Asia's homerun king Lee Seung-yeop who threw open the door for Korea's ascent to the semifinals with a WBC-leading fifth homer. At the bottom of the first inning, Lee stepped up to the plate with two outs on the board and managed to reel in the first pitch thrown by the U.S.' Dontrelle Willis, sending it sailing out of the park in a sign of the thrashing that was to come.

Lee Seung-yeop and Seo Jae-weong celebrate with teammates after they beat the U.S. team 7-3 in the World Baseball Classic quarter-finals at the Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Monday./Yonhap

This marks the fourth game in the slugger's impressive homerun streak. Teams unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of the athlete's homerun derby include China, which endured two homeruns from the athlete, and Japan and Mexico, which were able to escape after giving up one homerun each to the slugger.

In the following batting lineup, Korea scored another point with three consecutive hits from Kim Tae-kyun, Song Ji-man and Lee Beom-ho.

The U.S. scored in the third inning with a solo-homer from veteran slugger Ken Griffey Jr. (Cincinnati). In the bottom of the third, Korea's heavy hitters once again came through with Lee Seung-yeop’s walk, Kim Tae-kyun’s base on a walk, Song Ji-man’s bunt and Lee Beom-ho’s grounder.

The fate of the U.S. team came early into view when Major league ‘big gun’ Choi Hee-seop (LA) hit a homerun in the end of the fourth. With two outs and runners at first and second, Choi hit a three-run homer, lifting the score to a virtually insurmountable 6 to 1. Kim Min-jae added another run for the elated team with a timely hit in the end of 6th.

Team USA served up some last-minute fireworks with a three-hit surge that brought in two points. A far cry from the needed comeback, it at least provided a bit of relief for fans who had managed to stick out the heartbreak and unseasonably chilly weather.

Strong performances from the bullpen included Jeon Byung-doo (Kia), Kim Byung-hyun (Colorado), Koo Dae-sung (Hanwha), Jung Dae-hyun (SK) and Oh Seung-whan (Samsung) following opener Son Min-han (Lotte) and infielders like Park Jin-man (Samsung) and Kim Min-jae (Hanwha), who took up an impregnable defensive stance whenever the Korean team was facing crisis. They left the U.S.’s dream-team batting lineup with only eight hits.

With two wins in the second round under its belt, the Korean team looks a shoo-in for the semifinals barring any calamity against Japan in the next game.

(englishnews@chosun.com )