AMAZIN’ AUSSIES AT IT AGAIN

AMAZIN’ AUSSIES AT IT AGAIN

Beat Korea 2-1 in the bottom of the 9^th inning.

AUSTRALIA 2 def. KOREA 1

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The Australian baseball team have assured themselves a place in the World Cup Quarter-Finals after yet another thrilling ‘walk-off’ victory in Taipei on Sunday.

The win against Korea represents the third time in the past four days that the Aussies have prevailed in their final At-Bat – and now puts them in outright second place in Pool B.

The remarkable victory came with two-out in the bottom of the 9^th inning when West Australian Ben Risinger drove a pitch over Korean centerfielder Lee Seung Hwa’s head, scoring Justin Huber from second base and breaking a 1-1 tie.

Huber, who ignited the game-winning rally with a one-out double, was bemused by the Australian team’s ability to execute consistently with the game on the line.

“I have played a lot of games for a lot of teams and I have never been involved in a streak like this before,” Huber said shortly after scoring the winning run.

“Today’s game was tough…I mean both the Korean pitchers had pretty nasty stuff, so to come away with another win like that is huge,” he said.

On the mound for Australia 24-year-old left hander Adam Blackley was the game’s star early, shutting out Korea for the fist six innings.

Blackley, who was perfect through four innings and retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced, used his off-speed pitches effectively keeping the Korean hitters off balance all afternoon.

And it looked like the young Victorian southpaw might be in line for the win, when Australian second baseman Luke Hughes broke a 0-0 deadlock with his second Home Run of the tournament in the bottom of the 6^th inning.

Hughes, who two days ago hit the dramatic walk-off shot against Venezuela, continued his torrid display of power, this time with a line shot that just cleared the left field wall.

However after getting the first two hitters to ground out in the top of the 7^th inning, Blackley allowed consecutive hits to Koreans, Son Si Hyun and Song San, that tied the game and led to the end of the line for the lefty.

But despite the potential go-ahead run standing on second base, reliever Brendan Wise halted the Korean progress, and then combined with Adam Bright over the final two frames adding further credence to the already spectacular World Cup performances from Australia’s bullpen.

Ben Risinger’s show stopper however, will remain the headline story of the afternoon.

Carrying a couple of niggling injuries, and after taking a nasty knock to his left hand when he was hit by a pitch to lead off the 7^th inning, Risinger faced the arduous task of stepping in against flame throwing Korean reliever, Hwang Doo Sung,

With two strikes and two outs, Hwang, who had already struck out four of the six batters he had faced, painted a 93mph fastball on the inside corner against Risinger – a pitch that the the Korean hurler thought was close enough to be called strike three.

But the only opinion that mattered was that of home plate umpire Williams Higgins, and when he ruled the pitch a ball inside, Risinger made the most of the opportunity, belting the very next pitch over the drawn in outfield and securing his country’s ticket to the playoffs.

Next up, Australia will play Germany on Tuesday in a game they are expected to win comfortably before facing off against Canada in their final preliminary round match-up on November 14.