Australia beats Canada, advances to super round with clean record; Netherlands out

Australia beat Canada, 7-6, at the end of the drama. The third win in the tournament means not only a spot in the super round for the Aussie but also a clean record. Australia lost in group play against Nicaragua and The Netherlands but beat both Canada and Korea.

Australia took a quick lead against Antoine Jean, making the most of an error in the first and scoring on a pair of doubles by centre fielder Roland Skepton and catcher Christopher Burke in the third.

Canada got to Aussie starter William Sherriff in the bottom of the fifth. Consecutive doubles by left fielder César Valero Sanche and second baseman Elijha Hammill tied the game and right fielder Micah Mc Dowell homered to right field to give Canada a two-run lead.

It took a swing of the bat to Australia’s shortstop Byron Armstrong to reverse the lead in the top of the sixth. He got to reliever Elias Saul with a bases-loaded double that reversed the lead.

Australia extended the lead with a couple of insurance runs against Connor O’Halloran in the top of the eighth, but Canada wasn’t done. Valero Sanchez and first baseman Noah Hull reached on two-out singles in the bottom of the eighth and shortstop Austin Gomm got to reliever James Morgan with a bases-clearing double that made it a one-run game.

Canada remained in the game thanks to a perfect throw home by centre fielder Dasan Brown, who got Jaylin Rae and prevented one more insurance ran, then put the potential winning runs on board.

Jack Lee took the mounds with two outs and the bases empty. Third baseman Tyrell Schofield Sam singled and reached third on a defensive error. The game ended when Owen Diodati sent fly to shallow centre field.

The Netherlands beat China, 10-6, and will finish with the same 3-2 record as Australia and Canada. They placed fourth in group A because of a worse Team Quality Balance (TQB).

The Dutch made it clear from the beginning. In the bottom of the second, they got to China’s starter Zhang Yifei with a bases-loaded triple by right fielder Max Kops and gave Gio De Graauw a comfortable lead to work with.

China entered the sixth trailing 5-1 and took advantage of a defensive error to cut the lead and then made it a one-run game with a two-RBI single by designated hitter Wang Shuai that sent De Graauw to the showers.

Naut Kragt ended the threat and didn’t allow another earned run.
In the bottom half of the frame, a single by left fielder Darryl Collins and a double by first baseman Ruendrick Piternella batted in four more runs and opened the score.

Arij Fransen needed only nine pitches to get the last three outs.