Professional baseball players Cody Ponce (31) of Hanwha Eagles and Drew Anderson (31) of SSG Landers will clash.

Hanwha announced that Ponce will be the starting pitcher for the game against SSG in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' held on the 27th at Incheon SSG Landers Field.

Ponce has recorded 10 wins and an earned run average of 2.04 in 16 games (101⅔ innings) this season. He currently ranks first in the league in earned run average, tied for first in wins, and first in strikeouts (141), establishing himself as the league's top ace.

SSG has particularly struggled against Ponce. He has dominated SSG, boasting a record of 2 wins and an earned run average of 0.00 in 2 games (15 innings). On the 17th of last month, Ponce took the mound against SSG, pitching 8 innings with 2 hits, 1 walk, 18 strikeouts, and no earned runs, surpassing the previous record of 17 strikeouts set by Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha) in 2010 and setting a new KBO record for the most strikeouts in a single game.

SSG manager Lee Seung-yong noted in an interview on the 27th, 'Looking at the record, our hitters in the current lineup have only managed 2 hits against Ponce in 2 games. Those are (Jung) Jun-jae and (An) Sang-hyun. So I'm really troubled about how to arrange the lineup tomorrow,' as he deliberated over the matchup against Ponce.

Despite SSG struggling with the matchup against Ponce, they will counter with an ace of their own. Anderson will take the mound as the starting pitcher. He has achieved 5 wins and 3 losses with an earned run average of 2.05 in 15 games (88 innings) this season. He ranks second in the league for earned run average and strikeouts (128). He faced Hanwha once, pitching 5 innings with 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit by pitch, 9 strikeouts, and 1 earned run, but he ended up with the loss.

SSG's last game saw starting pitcher Moon Seung-won struggle with 3⅓ innings, allowing 8 hits (including 1 home run), 5 walks, 1 strikeout, and 6 earned runs. However, thanks to a focused offense and strong performance from the bullpen, they managed to pull off an 8-6 comeback victory. Having secured 2 consecutive wins, SSG will see Anderson and White take the mound in the remaining 2 games of their weekend series, making a series sweep a possibility based on the starting pitcher matchups.

However, Hanwha also has Ponce and Ryu Hyun-jin lined up as starting pitchers for the remaining 2 games. Both pitchers are expected to lead Hanwha to victory in those games. Given that the starting pitcher matchups are tightly contested, the outcome of today's game is anticipated to determine the direction of this 3-game series.

Fans have high expectations for the match between the league's top ace Ponce, who ranks first in earned run average, and the second-ranked Anderson, as the game holds significant implications for the series outcome.

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