Photo by IBAF
In their first game of the Super Round Robin at the 21U IBAF World Cup, Australia came up against top ranked Chinese Taipei. Struggling against Taipei’s starting pitcher, Australia lost the game 3-9.
Starting pitcher for Australia, Sam Gibbons, started the game strong however Chinese Taipei soon found their stride and added 4 runs by the third and another in the 8th.
Not giving up easily, Australia rallied loading the bases with singles from Ryan Dale and Ben Leslie and a walk for Jacob Younis with no outs. Taipei was forced into a pitching change, and eventually after a two run single from Zac Shepherd and a double from Guy Edmonds Australia was on the board with three runs, making the score 5-3 and a win possible.
However Chinese Taipei was not ready to lose, and added an additional 4 runs to the scoreline. Australia was unable to increase their score and lost 3-9.
Manager Tony Harris explained, “we struggled defensively as a team and didn't play sound baseball, which made for a tough game. When playing one of the best teams in the world, you have to play your best and we weren’t our best during that game.
We are looking forward to the game against Czech Republic and Korea, we just have to regroup and bounce back”.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | x | 9 | 14 | 2 |
Australia will play their second game of the Super Round Robin against the Czech Republic tonight at 6:30pm (8:30pm AEST/9:30 AEDT) at Taichung Stadium. The Czech Republic lost their first game of the Super Round Robin yesterday against Japan 15-0.
For game and team updates visit baseball.com.au or follow the team on Facebook and Twitter.