Preview: Australia, Chinese Taipei hope to bounce back in Matchup on Sunday at sold-out Taipei Dome
A sold-out Taipei Dome is going to host Sunday’s matchup between the No. 2 in the WBSC/KONAMI Men’s Baseball World Rankings, Chinese Taipei, and the No. 15 Australia at 6.30pm local time in the Group B game of the opening round at the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS.
Both teams are entering the contest after suffering a loss on Saturday. Australia dropped a close game 3-4 to Cuba, which has them at 1-2 in the standings. They had also lost their opening match to Japan 3-9 on Wednesday in Nagoya and then beat the Dominican Republic 5-0 on Friday after a dominant pitching effort.
Chinese Taipei meanwhile started off with a pair of wins in the opening round. They celebrated a 6-3 win over Korea in the first game on Wednesday and then held off the Dominican Republic 2-1 on Thursday. On Saturday they had to settle for a 1-3 loss to Samurai Japan in a matchup of 2-0 clubs. But with a record of 2-1 Chinese Taipei still has high hopes for a ticket to the Super Round.
Australia needsto get its offense going. They are hitting .242/.330/.389 with 11 runs on 23hits through three games in the WBSC Premier12 2024. Travis Bazzana and AaronWhitefield each have four hits in the event. Robbie Perkins leads his team withfour RBI.
Chinese
Taipei has managed to capture the two wins in three games by scoring only nineruns. They are hitting only .200/.270/.344 in the tournament. Chieh-Hsien Chen hasseven of the 18 hits so far. Their pitching is making up for it with a team ERAof 2.00 with 24 strikeouts in 27 innings.
32-year-oldveteran right-hander Chun-Lin Kuo will be Chinese Taipei’s starting pitcher inthe game. Between 2015 and 2019 he played four years in NPB in Japan for theSaitama Seibu Lions with an ERA of 5.92. He is currently playing for the Uni-PresidentLions in the CPBL. During the 2024 season he went 3-7 with an ERA of 4.74 in 20games (14 starts). He struck out 58 batters in 76 innings, while walking 20.
Australia’smanager David Nilsson has selected Mitchell Neunborn has starting pitcher forthe crucial matchup. The 27-year-old right-hander impressed during the WorldBaseball Classic 2023 playing for Australia, which led to a contract with thePhiladelphia Phillies organization, where he is pitching in the farm system since.
In 2024 he went 7-6 with an ERA of 4.73 in 29 games, split between High-A andDouble-A. He struck out 96 batters in 91.1 innings pitched, walking 42.
Chinese
Taipei has a 10-3 record against Australia in international baseballcompetitions since 2011. Both teams met in the WBSC Premier12 2024, whereChinese Taipei prevailed 5-1 in the Super Round. This year both programssquared up in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup with Chinese Taipei winning 4-3in the placement round. The last win for Australia against Chinese Taipei camein 2022 with a 3-0 shutout in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.