Australia v Venezuela

Despite their opening game hiccup against the Dominican Republic, Venezuela still is in contention to capture the inaugural World Baseball Classic
With a win against Australia in Thursday night's game at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, the Venezuelans will advance to the second round of the WBC

Their 6-0 win over Italy on Wednesday night, evened their record in the round-robin format at 1-1

This will be Australia's second game
They opened their play in 'Pool D' with a 10-0 loss to Italy

The top two teams from each of the four pools will advance to the second round, where another round robin format will be presented to four teams
The top two teams from 'Pool D' will compete against the top two teams from 'Pool C' in a second round pool that will be staged in Puerto Rico

"It's going to be a most important game tomorrow, because our goal is to get to the final" Escobar said
"To do that, we have to go game by game
It's a big one tomorrow and we're ready for it"

Picking from the talent-laden pitching staff, the Venezuelans will send Escobar to the mound to face Australia's Phil Brasington
Escobar, will be looking to continue the success of his teammates, who limited the Italians to two hits
Escobar, who is one of four active Major League pitchers to make 100 career starts and also have 50 career saves, was limited to 16 appearances with the Angels, because of elbow problems last year
But he appears to have fully recovered
During an exhibition game against the Phillies on Saturday, Escobar went three innings and gave up two hits
He struck out three and walked one
"I'm ready" Escobar said
"I'm ready for the challenge"

Brassington, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Royals in 1993, has spent most of his professional career playing in Australia
When facing the likes of Miguel Cabrera and Bobby Abreu, it appears he'll have an even greater challenge

Cabrera has four hits, including two homers and double, in his seven at-bats during this tournament

As for the Australians, Trent Durrington was their only play to register a hit against Italy on Tuesday night

But the much more powerful Venezuelans say they won't be overlooking the Australians
"To me (all opponents) are the same because everybody has come to compete in the World Classic" Venezuelan pitcher Carlos Silva said
"They've all brought their best players"