Daejeon: Hanwha Eagles starter Cody Ponce tied a South Korean baseball record for most strikeouts in a game with 18 on Saturday. Ponce tossed eight shutout innings while giving up just two hits in a 1-0 win over the SSG Landers in the first game of a doubleheader at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, with 18 strikeouts, Ponce also tied the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) record set by Sun Dong-yol of the Haitai Tigers on June 19, 1991, when he struck out 18 batters against the Eagles in 13 innings. Ponce now holds the record for most Ks in a nine-inning game, surpassing the previous mark of 17 set by his current Eagles teammate, Ryu Hyun-jin, on May 11, 2010, against the LG Twins.

Ponce entered Saturday’s game ranked second in the KBO with 75 strikeouts, two behind Drew Anderson of the Landers. Ponce struck out the side in the top of the first inning to set the tone. He went on to record two strikeouts in each of the next four innings, before striking out the side again in the sixth inning.

He struck out the first two batters of the seventh and had two more Ks in the eighth for the record. Ponce also flirted with a no-hitter in this one, holding the Landers off the board until two outs in the eighth inning. He finished with a season-high 113 pitches.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning and closer Kim Seo-hyeon preserved the narrow lead for Ponce’s record-setting victory.