CALEB CRAIG/Associated Press Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chin-Tse pitches against Mexico during the first inning of a game at the Little League World Series on Thursday at Volunteer Stadium.

The usual catcher from Tung-Yuan Little League of Chinese Taipei doesn’t want to catch pitcher Lin Chin-Tse. The ace of the Asia-Pacific Regional champions throws upwards of 80 miles per hour, and it can hurt their hands catching him.

It’s a problem not many teams have, but Ysai Yu-Ge was behind the plate on Thursday catching the hard-hurling pitcher. Sure, his hand may have been a tad sore after the game, but no doubt a solid win helps ease that discomfort if any.

Chin-Tse is a dominant pitcher and dominates on the mound. Thursday’s win against Mexico was Exhibit A of that for fans in attendance at Volunteer Stadium.

The funny part is that Chin-Tse was going easy to start the game to get into a rhythm. But taking it slow for Chin-Tse is the equivalent of most pitchers giving it their all right from the start.

“My manager told me in the first inning (against Mexico) to mae sure you take it easy, make sure you can hit the strike zone and toward second or third inning, you can go ahead (and throw harder),” Chin-Tse said. “In past, I was a little rushed getting to the strike zone. my manager said first inning, just take it easy and make sure you can hit the strike zone. The rest, do what you do best.”

And what he does best is not letting batters get hits.

Chin-Tse threw just three innings in the opener, but was unhittable in that span. He struck out three batters and in those three innings, only three Mexico batters reached — two via walks and one on a dropped-third strike.

Chinese Taipei has an outstanding pitching core. Three saw time in the win over Mexico. After Chin-Tse was releived, Chang Chun-Po threw 25 pitches over two innings and allowed just two singles and Chen Qi-Sheng came in the sixth for a one-strikeout inning with only one hit and one walk issued.

“I’m very happy because we have a good pitching staff. We don’t have to pitch a lot to win the game,” Chin-Tse said. “We just focus on a few pitches and if you can win the game, everybody enjoys the game.”

Chinese Taipei manager Lai Min-Nan knows how talented his ace is as well. He knows he throws hard and fast.

“We know that Lin can probably break 80 miles per hour because in practice, he hit 130 kilometers, which is close to 80,” the manager said. “So we can find out what the top seed is when we watch ESPN to see.”

“I know that we have strong pitching staff and hopefully we can keep up and last as long as we can,” Min-Nan added.

In addition to that outstanding pitching and defense, the team’s offense is just as tough.

The Asis-Pacific Regional champions had eight hits in their opener and led the game off with a crushing home run that cleared the second set of fences at Volunteer Stadium to open the game. That hit? It came from Chin-Tse.

That’s right, the not only pitches well, he can go deep at any time.

“Our batting is our strongest suit and today, fortunately, our very first at bat hit a home run and brought up the spirit of the team,” Min-Nan said.