The construction of the baseball park is not finished yet...
The new home of the professional baseball Hanwha Eagles, Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, welcomed fans through its official opening ceremony on the 5th. Hanwha players also held their first scrimmage on the 6th and continued training on the 7th to adapt to the new stadium.
However, the first opening game of the exhibition match against Doosan Bears on the 8th will be held at Cheongju Stadium. The reason for coming to Cheongju for the new baseball park is that internal construction has not yet been completed. Approval for the completion of the new baseball park was granted on the 28th of last month, and starting from the 1st, the Hanwha club has been conducting interior finishing throughout the stadium.
Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon met with reporters before the game that day and noted, "The new stadium is great. There are still many unfinished areas, but everything is really nice. I felt good from the moment I drove up and entered the stadium. Now there is just one thing left. We just have to play baseball well," adding, "To be honest, it would have been nice if we didn't have to come all the way to Cheongju and could have had more exhibition games there, but it's a bit regrettable."
At the same time, Manager Kim stated, "It’s nice here because it’s quiet. The new stadium is still under construction, so it was noisy there. (Due to painting) There were things being painted, and there were also smells," explaining, "It might be misunderstood that we are the only ones practicing there to get to know the characteristics of the stadium, but that’s not the case."
Then, Manager Kim said, "We don’t really need to wake up early in the morning and come all the way here. Everyone has come back from training abroad, so it would be nice to come out at a later time to train. I hope other teams can understand (the unavoidable situation). I wish there wouldn’t be misunderstandings."
Hanwha will play the first two consecutive games in Cheongju on the 8th and 9th, followed by six away games next week. The last two-game series with the Samsung Lions will take place at the new stadium in Daejeon on the 17th and 18th. The first game on the 17th will start at 6 p.m. and will also serve as night adaptation training.
Having experienced the new Daejeon baseball stadium through the scrimmage and training, Manager Kim commented on the right 8-meter monster wall fence, "I think more things will happen during actual games, but if the ball hits the fence, it doesn’t bounce back well. There are many instances where the ball drops straight down because the fence mesh is made of metal," adding, "I wish we could have practiced more at the new stadium, but I regret that. However, there are the last two games, and we need to adapt while continuing to practice. We should take advantage of our home stadium."
Meanwhile, on the first day of the exhibition match, Hanwha fielded a lineup of Lee Jin-young (left fielder), Moon Hyun-bin (designated hitter), Estevan Florial (center fielder), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Chae Eun-sung (first baseman), Hwang Young-mook (second baseman), Lim Jong-chan (right fielder), Choi Jae-hoon (catcher), and Shim Woo-jun (shortstop). The starting pitcher was sidearm Eom Sang-baek.
An Chi-hong, who had hamstring pain at the end of the camp in Okinawa, will be on standby for a pinch hit. Manager Kim said, "His condition is good. He wants to play, but we are trying not to push him too hard."
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