Australia defeated Germany 4-2 for their fifth win at the World Cup of Baseball in Taipei. It was the fifth loss for the European country. Nevertheless, the result was not that clear as expected.
Leadoff hitter Trent OELTJEN, who is playing a great tournament, put Australia on the board early on. He reached base on a line drive single of the pitcher and scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael COLLINS. Tom BRICE and Luke HUGHES added two more runs in the fourth frame with RBI-singles. After that BRICE was thrown out at home by left fielder Simon GUEHRING, trying to score from second on a single by OELTJEN. Glenn WILLIAMS build up the advantage to four with another RBI-single in the seventh.
Germany rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth on a two-run-double by catcher Kai GRONAUER. Jens HEYMER and Jendrick SPEER scored on the play. They started another comeback in the ninth with two runners in scoring position. But closer Brad THOMAS escaped the situation with a strike out and a ground out to second baseman HUGHES.
OELTJEN had four singles in his four at-bats. He scored twice. Justin HUBER and WILLIAMS each got two hits.
Sascha LUTZ was two for five with a double. Dominik WULF reached base twice on a walk and a single.
Dushan RUSIC got the start for Australia. He allowed four hits and a base on balls in four innings. He struck out five. Scott MITCHINSON received the win after 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Enorbel MARQUEZ-RAMIREZ (L 0-2) pitched the complete eight frames for Germany. He gave up eleven hits, four runs and three walks. He struck out five.
AUS 100 200 10X 4 11 1