Australia is out of the World Baseball Classic after a dramatic 7-2 loss to South Korea in the Tokyo Dome.
Despite the scoreline, it was the narrowest of exits as a 6-2 defeat would have put Australia into the quarterfinals.
After Japan — led by superstar Shohei Ohtani — had won Group C, the team that joined them in the next stage came down to this match.
An Australian win would put it through. A South Korean win would leave both teams and Chinese Taipei on equal points.
That would invoke a tie-break system that, while complicated, came down to Australia advancing as long as it did not allow more than six runs, or lose by more than four.
In the event, Australia failed on both counts, but it was close.
In front of 32,908, the match began badly for Australia as Moon Bo-gyeong homered Lachlan Wells into the stands at the top of the second inning to earn South Korea a 2-0 lead, with Ahn Hyun-min also scoring. The lead was extended to 4-0 by the end of the third after a brace of doubles.
At that point, Australia was still going through, but there was no longer any margin. At the top of the fifth, Moon singled, enabling Ahn to put South Korea 5-0 up and on course to qualify.
Ahn Hyun-min’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning allowed South Korea to advance. (Getty Images: Gene Wang)
In his first start of the tournament, Robbie Glendinning immediately responded with a magnificent home run into the stands, but, unfortunately, without anyone on base. Nevertheless, a 1-5 defeat would be good enough.
Moon then got another single at the top of the sixth to put South Korea back in the box seat. It also meant Australia now not only had to reduce the gap to four, but it could not afford to concede again.
At the bottom of the eighth, Robbie Perkins walked to first, then was replaced by pinch runner Max Durrington, a teenage debutant. He made it to second after a sacrifice bunt by Tom Kennelly. Then Travis Bazzana singled, enabling Trent Durrington to score.
At 6-2, Australia was back in line to qualify, but only if South Korea failed to score in the final inning.
Having safely negotiated the seventh and eighth innings, Adelaide Giants’ Jack O’Loughlin, formerly of the Oakland A’s, was given the responsibility of pitching the crucial ninth.
After Kim Do-yeong walked, and was replaced by pinch runner Park Hae-min, he had Jahmai Jones caught by Kennelly at right field.
However, San Francisco Giants’ Lee Jung-hoo singled, and a throwing error by shortstop Jarryd Dale allowed Park to get to third. Next pitch, Ahn’s sacrifice fly got Park around and South Korea had its seventh run.
Short of winning the match, that was it for Australia, though any score by them at the bottom of the ninth would put Chinese Taipei through at South Korea’s expense.
To great jubilation from the Koreans, they shut Australia out thanks to a diving catch by Lee off Rixon Wingrove that looked set to go to the wall and potentially deliver a run.
“We didn’t meet our assignment, we kind of failed,” said manager Dave Nilsson.
“At the same time, we did a lot of good things. It showed we can play on this stage but we have more work to do, more improvements to make in the big moments. I told the players how much I believe in them, and how much I trust them and that’s all I can do.”
AAP
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