Only one once was known as the "Ichiro of Korea," and Wednesday night, he stepped out from beneath the titanic shadow of World Baseball Classic hero Seung-Yeop Lee to put Korea on top in its 2-1 win over Japan.

Jong Beom Lee was on a mission from God.

"Well, I thought maybe it was my last chance," Lee said. "I thought God had given me a chance, that one chance, and I had nothing to lose."

Lee worked the count to 2-1 against Kyuji Fujikawa, and he blasted a shot into the gap in left-center field to bring wild cheers from the Korean-heavy crowd of 39,679 at Angel Stadium.

Min-Jae Kim and Byung-Kyu Lee were in scoring position, and Jong Beom Lee cleared the bases, taking himself out when he tried to stretch his double into a triple.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka applied the tag, and Lee was out. Not the smoothest move for Korea's team captain to make, but with a two-run lead, Lee still was able to smile, dusting himself off on the way to the dugout.

"I hit it and wasn't sure how far it would go, so maybe I was running a little slow," Lee said. "I felt kind of bad, but we got those runs, so I wasn't as upset about missing my run."

Thunderstix, a Korean invention, made their return to Angel Stadium. The noise for Lee and his teammates was loud, long and enduring all night.

"I was aware of the fact that a lot of Korean Americans were around here, and I think they all came out," Lee said. "I was proud to be a Korean, and I knew when I had that hit that we would win."

Not just any win, Lee and his countrymen had beaten Team Japan. Again.

"More importantly, we beat Japan," he said. "It was like sweet revenge. Now we have to get ready for the semifinals."

Along with Cuba and the Dominican Republic, Korea will head to San Diego for the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic. Any one of the other three teams in the Anaheim group could still advance, although it most likely will be either the United States or Japan.

If Team USA beats Mexico on Thursday, it would advance. Otherwise, the slide rules come out and a tiebreaker is applied.

When it comes to Team Korea's next opponent for Saturday's game at Petco Park, Lee knows who he wants to be there.

"We weren't very familiar with their pitchers and the balls they threw, but now we are getting used to Japan," Lee said. "If we get another chance with Japan, I think we can beat them again."