OSAKA, Japan -- No. 14 Australia has a chance to medal at the 2015 World Baseball Softball Confederation U18 Baseball World Cup. After falling to No. 8 South Korea today by a close score of 3-0, Australia will face South Korea again in the tournament's bronze medal game Sunday, 6 September at 11:00am AEST.
Today's game stood a scoreless tie until mid-game, when South Korea put three runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth. The Korean side score the first run on back-to-back-doubles, and the next two on a long home run off the bat of Hwang Sundo.
Australia had chances to cut into the lead late in the game, putting a pair of runners on with one out in the sixth inning and loading the bases with one out in the eighth. However, the team left the baserunners stranded in both situations.
Jye Deeble took the loss for Australia, surrendering three runs on five hits in his four innings on the mound. He also struck out six batters and walked none. Jess Williams tossed four scoreless innings in relief of Deeble, allowing one hit and striking out three batters and walking two. Mitch Holding led Australia at the plate, going 2-for-4 on the day with a double.
The tournament's bronze medal game will take place tomorrow at 11:00am AEST. Following Australia and South Korea in the bronze medal game, No. 1 Japan and No. 2 USA will play for the championship at 7:00pm AEST.
Live scoring links for the bronze medal and championship games can be found here.