World Baseball Classic Day 4: New Pools Begin, Australia Eliminated
By Keaton Moore
Australia 1-1 After Shutting Out China
Australia eliminated China from advancing to the second round with a monstrous 11-0 victory.
After a quiet first two innings, Luke Hughes awoke Australia’s offense with a two-run homer that put his team ahead in the third. Although Australia continued to add to their lead in the fourth and seventh innings, James Beresford broke the game open with a grand slam in the eighth.
As a result, the game was called after the eighth inning due to the tournament’s early termination rule. If a team is leading by 15 runs after five innings or, in this case, 10 runs after eight, the game is over.
Travis Blackley pitched into the fifth inning and allowed just two hits. Moreover, by throwing only 48 pitches, Blackley is available to open up the second round for Australia, if they can make it.
“I didn’t know what to expect, I don’t think any of us did,” Blackley said (per mlb.com). “They came out swinging and they definitely had some tools out there and played hard. I just think we just did our best to play our game and do what we could do to win this game.”
Cuba Slams Australia Back Down Under
By beating China, Australia faced Cuba with the added pressure of potential elimination from the tournament. Alfredo Despaigne’s grand slam knocked Australia from the tournament and highlighted Cuba’s 4-3 victory.
As Warwick held Cuba to four hits through his four-inning start, Lazaro Blanco did the same, keeping Australia to four hits through 2.2 innings. After four scoreless innings, Logan Wade put Australia ahead 1-0 with an RBI single in the fifth.
However, their lead short-lived lead came to an end when Despaigne’s grand slam put Cuba ahead 4-1 in the fourth
Although Australia scored in the seventh and eighth to shrink their deficit down to one, Miquel Lahera retired the ninth inning in order to send Cuba to the second round.