Australia thrives on rare error, beats Korea, Nicaragua defeats China

Australia took advantage of rare defensive errors by the hosts Korea to earn the first win in the tournament, 1-0, at the end of a pitching duel.

Australia scored the only run of the night in the bottom of the fourth. A towering pop fly by designated hitter Conor Myles fell and allowed him to reach second. Right fielder Solomon Maguire followed with a bloop RBI-single to centre.

Korea had its chance to thrive on an error. Right fielder Lee Juhyeong singled, after a hit by a pitch and an error, to load the bases. Second baseman Kim Jichan was all over the fifth offering by Aussie starter Lachlan Waite, but his line drive went just foul. He then struck out looking. Waite, who showed a lot of movement on his fastball, got out of the jam with a fly-out.

Korea stranded two more in the sixth and didn’t have a real chance to score against reliever Jack Lee.

Australia, on the contrary, put runners at the corner on back to back singles by second baseman Trevis Bazzana and left fielder Jaylin Rae in the bottom of the seventh. Catcher Christopher Burke failed to bunt on a squeeze play and Bazzana was tagged for the out at home.

Lee walked the first batter of the top of the ninth and Korea bunted him to second. A two-out deep fly ball by first baseman Nam Jimin in the gap to right centre gave the home fans some illusion. Center fielder Roland Skepton ran the ball down to end the game.

Conor Myles scored the only run of the game

Nicaragua used a four-run second inning to defeat China, 6-3.

Trailing 1-0, Nicaragua got to starter Yi Jian on a couple of doubles by right fielder Yeffry Montiel and centre fielder Felipe Aguilar and did not need to look back. A triple by left fielder Leyton Castillo in the bottom of the sixth and a double by catcher Jorge Lopez opened the score in the late innings.

Axel Zapata pitched six innings to earn the win.