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Taiwan clears way to Olympic Games

Taiwan's Lin Chih-sheng throws the ball in yesterday's match against Australia. Taiwan won the game 5-0. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwan beat Australia 5-0 yesterday in the 2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, making their road to the 2008 Beijing Olympics an easy one and all but squashing Australia's chances.

A win today against South Africa, who has yet to win a game, will assure Taiwan of a spot in the Olympics.

The star of the day was clearly Yang Chien-fu. Yang pitched a complete game shutout for Taiwan, shutting down an Australian side that had been batting .303 in the tournament prior to the Taiwan game.

Taiwan jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the second. First Lo Kuo-hui and Lin Chih-sheng hit consecutive singles, and then Yeh Chun-chang brought Lo home with an RBI hit to right that was just out of reach of Daniel Berg. Kuo Yen-wen followed with a hit down the middle that was a potential double play. But after tagging second, Brad Dutton had a poor throw to first, allowing Lin Chih-sheng to score. Chang Chien-ming and Lin Che-hsuan followed with RBI doubles to put Taiwan up 4-0.

STANDINGS P W L South Korea 5 5 0 Taiwan 5 4 1 Canada 5 4 1 Australia 5 2 3 Germany 5 2 3 Mexico 5 2 3 Spain 5 1 4 South Africa 5 0 5

The RBI hit for Yeh was the first hit in seven at bats for the Taiwanese captain this tournament.

A pair of mistakes by Australia allowed Taiwan to add another run in the seventh. With two outs and a runner on first, Peng Cheng-min attempted to steal second base. Joel Naughton's throw to second was off target, allowing Peng to advance to third. He then made it home after a wild pitch, putting Taiwan up 5-0.

Yang, who pitches for the Sinon Bulls of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, also beat Mexico on Saturday. With two solid outings against strong teams over a span of just five days, Yang has established himself as one of Taiwan's premier pitchers.

The loss went to Australia's starting pitcher Paul Mildren, who was pulled after giving up four runs over five innings. The 23-year-old lefty pitches in the US for the Omaha Royals, Kansas City's Triple A farm club.

The loss dealt a crushing blow to Australia's Olympic hopes. Australia now needs to win their next two games and Canada needs to lose their next two for the Aussies to reach the Olympics. Two losses from Canada are unlikely, considering that their last game is against Germany, who only made the tournament after the UK dropped out because their squad couldn't raise the ?40,000 (US$80,672) they needed to come to Taiwan.

South Korea 12, Germany 1

Lee Seung-yeop drove in three runs and Son Min-han earned his second win of the tournament as South Korea thrashed Germany 12-1 in the early game in Taichung yesterday.

Lee now has a total of 12 RBIs in the tournament. The Yomiuri Giants slugger also had two hits.

The Koreans blew the game open with six runs in the fourth. The game was called in the seventh because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Germany's lone run came off Donald Lutz's home run in the top of the second.

South Korea are now 5-0 in the tournament and are assured of a spot in the Olympics.

Mexico 5, South Africa 0

A struggling South Africa side have yet to win a game after being routed by Mexico in Taichung last night. South Africa face Taiwan at 6:30pm in Douliou, Yunlin County, today.

Canada 11, Spain 0

Canada took one more step toward an Olympic berth yesterday afternoon, defeating Spain 11-0 over seven-and-a-half innings behind 12 hits and a combined shutout from pitchers Aaron Wideman and Alexandre Periard.

Outfielder Nick Weglars continued his torrid hitting in the tournament, driving in two runs with a HR to deep right field. Jeremy Ware, Jimmy Van Ostrand and Emerson Frostad drove in two runs apiece.

Spanish Starter Remigio Leal took the loss, allowing five runs and eight hits over three innings. Spain's hitters managed just four hits on the afternoon, dropping to 1-4 in the tournament.
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