After losing to undefeated Japan, Chinese Taipei was looking to improve to 3-1 in the Premier12, going into the day facing Australia looking to stay alive in Group Play in hopes of playing in the Super Round. Kuo Chun-Lin got the start for Chinese Taipei, facing Australia’s Mitch Neunborn at the Taipei Dome. Chinese Taipei won the game by a substantial margin, defeating Australia 11-3.
With a runner on second in the first inning, Pan Chieh-Kai was able to score Chen Chieh-Hsien on an RBI double to get Chinese Taipei their first run of the day. They added another in the second inning, as Lin Li scored Li Kai-Wei, as Chinese Taipei was up 2-0 after two. Australia inched closer in the bottom of the third, as Solomon Maguire connected for a solo home run to deep right field for Australia to trail by just one.
The wheels fell apart for Australia the following inning. All with two outs in the inning, Lin Li singled, a walk from Chen Chieh-Hsien, led to a two-run double from Tseng Song-En for Chinese Taipei increased their lead to 4-1. Chen Chieh-Hsien added another RBI in the fifth inning, hitting an RBI single to go ahead 5-1.
After one out in the seventh, Australia turned to Blake Townsend. Things did not go his way, with Lin Li crushing a three-run home run to deep center field for Chinese Taipei to extend their lead to 8-1. Australia got one run back in the bottom half, with a deep home run from Robbie Perkins to trail, 8-2.
In the top of the ninth, Lin Li picked up his fifth hit of the day to try to get a rally started late. With two runners on, Kungkuan Giljegiljaw came in to pinch hit, and provided one of the biggest swings of the tournament. Giljegilaw powered a three-run home run to deep left field to make it 11-2, practically sealing the game for South Korea.
Wu Chun-Wei came in to close things down for Chinese Taipei, looking to secure their third win. The first two batters got on base and although he was able to get the first out of the inning from an Alex Hall ground out, a run scored on the play. He powered through it and got the next batter looking on strikes, and the last to ground out for Chinese Taipei to defeat Australia, 11-3.
Australia will hope to stay alive, as they will face South Korea at 11:00 p.m. EST, at Taipei Tianmu Stadium in Taipei City. Chinese Taipei will look to secure their spot in the Super Round of the Premier12, hosting Cuba at the Taipei Dome on Nov. 18, at 5:30 a.m. EST.
WBN Premier12: https://worldbaseball.com/tag/wbsc/
