Tuesday 20th November 2007

Following a successful World Cup Campaign in Taiwan, the Australian Baseball Team has arrived in Japan ahead of their historic two-game set against the Japanese Olympic squad in Fukuoka

Billed as the 2007 Japan-Australia Friendship Series, the main focus of the games will be to help foster the growing involvement of Australian Baseball in the region as well preparing the Japanese side for their all-important Asian qualifying series in December

The local press are publicising the games as “Revenge in Fukuoka” – a response to the lingering torment felt by the Japanese baseball fraternity following their country’s shock double loss to Australia in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games

The Aussies will face a Japanese side packed with superstars including starting pitcher, Yu Darvish, who was named as the Pacific League’s MVP at Tuesday’s Nippon Professional Baseball Awards Ceremony

Darvish, who forms part of the strongest Japanese team ever assembled, is just one of the hurdles Australian Head Coach Jon Deeble will need to contend with over the next few days
“He’s probably the best pitcher in international baseball today - he might be the best we have ever seen - and he’s not alone” Deeble said while evaluating Australia’s chances
“But we’ve got some pretty talented guys ourselves, and you can count on the fact that we are going to give it everything we’ve got
There is no chance we’ll die wondering” he said

One of the keys to Australia’s success against Japan will be the continued brilliance of the pitching staff as well as the clutch hitting that was repeatedly on show during the World Cup

The Aussies will be hoping that performances like that of centerfielder Trent Oeltjen will carry over from Taipei to Japan
Oeltjen finished his World Cup campaign as the tournament’s leading hitter (.523), scored more runs than anybody, and was named to the starting outfield on the All-World squad

The Friendship series, being playing in Fukuoka’s YAHOO Dome, will be played over two night this Thursday and Friday, with both games set to start at 8:30pm AEST