From last Thursday to last Monday the World Cup Team of Chinese Taipei played a five-game-series in Perth, Australia, in preparation for the upcoming World Championship tournament in their home country. The results were not so good. After a tie in game one, they lost three out of four against the locals from Barbagello Perth Heat. However all five matches were really close, determined by three of fewer runs.
Taipei brought in 23 players into the contest. Chia-Hsien CHIANG (.353) and Chao-Hang CHENG (.300) were the only two, who hit over .300. Kuo-Hang CHENG displayed some power with two homeruns and a slugging percentage of .571. Other than these three, the squad hit not very well. They had a team batting average of .228.
The pitching staff instead was a little bit better. They had an ERA for the team of 3.64. En-Yu LIN allowed just two hits, one run and three walks in seven innings, striking out twelve. The reliever Fu-Te NI and Yu-Cheng LIAO gave up six hits and two base on balls in eight innings. Starter Yin-Chieh LIN (0-1, OAVG .471, ERA 9.00, 4 IP) was not that good.
On the Heat were three members of the Australian National Team. Ben RISINGER (.250, HR, 3 RBI), Luke HUGHES (.333) and Brendon WISE (ERA 0.00, 2 App., 4 IP, 1 SO, OAVG .167) played in several games of the series. Without these three, who will returning to the National team in preparation for the upcoming World Cup, Perth will face the Canadian National team in a four-game-series, beginning on October 31st.
Results:
Chinese Taipei – Perth Heat 5-5
Chinese Taipei – Perth Heat 4-5
Perth Heat – Chinese Taipei 4-7
Perth Heat – Chinese Taipei 4-1
Chinese Taipei – Perth Heat 1-3