No. 7
ranked Australia has a Bronze Medal game in their sights as they take on no. 4
ranked Chinese Taipei in the WBSC Premier12 this afternoon.
A win for Australia
would guarantee a bronze medal game against no. 6 ranked Mexico, who fell to
no. 3 ranked Korea last night.
If Chinese Taipei
win, it sets up a bronze medal game between Mexico and no. 2 ranked USA. The
winner of a potential Mexico v USA Bronze Medal game would automatically
qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Chinese
Taipei fell out of Premier12 contention with a 3-2 loss against the US yesterday.
Chinese Taipei lead by one in the bottom of the seventh, before US
right-fielder Brent Rooker crushed a two-run homer to give the US a lead.
Despite a strong start from Sheng-Feng Wu, Chinese Taipei failed to score in the
late innings, sealing a win for the US.
Australia
kept their Bronze Medal hopes alive with a nail-biting 2-1 over the US on
Wednesday. Australian starter Tim Atherton struck out four in five one-hit
innings, while Aaron Whitefield’s two-RBI single in the first inning held up.
Former MLBer
Chih-Wei Hu toes the rubber for Chinese Taipei and makes his second appearance
at the 2019 Premier12. The big righty struck out three and gave up one unearned
run against Japan in their Opening Round game.
Australia
will counter with veteran right-hander Dushan Ruzic. Ruzic allowed one run in
four innings in Australia’s Super Round opener against Japan on Monday.
First pitch
from the Tokyo Dome is slated for 12:00 JST.