While the Netherlands traveled to Taichung on Tuesday, Italy and the Czech Republic got there a couple days earlier for a series of exhibition games to finish off preparations prior to the 21U Baseball World Cup. Chinese Taipei proved to be a tough opponent by winning 12-0 against the Czech and 15-0 against the Italian team. Against an university squad Italy drew a 1-1 tie, the Czech U21 team lost 4-10. Both teams are in the same pool, squaring off against New Zealand, Korea, Mexico and Chinese Taipei.