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Playing designated hitter
Batting #5

First plate appearance
----------?? handed pitcher
----------Popped up to shortstop - out F6
Second plate appearance
----------?? handed pitcher
----------Walk
Third plate appearance
----------?? handed pitcher
----------Hard hit ground ball to shortstop - out 4 to 3

The Australian Baseball Team has dropped the first game of their Exhibition Series in Fukuoka thanks in large part to some jaw-dropping pitching from their Japanese counterparts

While the 6-0 final score line does not accurately depict how close the contest was for much of the evening, it certainly illustrates the utter dominance the Asian All-Stars showed on the mound

Australian Head Coach Jon Deeble was forthright in his praise of the Japanese pitchers, but showed more concern with his sides’ lack of offence just four days removed from their impressive showing at the 2007 Baseball World Cup
“There is no doubt we faced some excellent pitching tonight and every one of their guys could easily pitch in the US major leagues” Deeble said after the game
“But the most disappointing thing is that we were no where near our best and our hitters simply failed to get anything going tonight and we need to be better than that to compete at the next level” he said

So dominant was the Japanese performance that only three Australians managed to reach base safely, with Justin Huber’s two-out double in the top of the fourth inning, the only time an Australian hitter reached second base all evening

On the mound for the Aussies it was a somewhat different story however, with the pitching staff able to limit Japan’s star studded offence to just two runs through the first seven innings
Starting pitcher, Travis Blackley, was effective for the first three frames but stole the attention of the Japanese media when his trademark “pick-off” nailed lead-off hitter Tsuoshi Nishioka at first base after he walked to open the inning
“It’s good to know you’ve got it (the pick off) up your sleeve when you need it” Blackley said
“Especially if I can get someone early in the game, as it tends to stop them trying to run on me”

Blackley left after allowing a single run on just three hits, before a relief quartet of Greg Wiltshire, Brendan Wise, Josh Hill and Rich Thompson took over from the southpaw and managed to keep the opposition mostly in check until late in the game

Unfortunately for the Aussies, the Japanese “sleeping dog” awoke in the bottom half of the eighth inning, tagging reliever, Brad Thomas, for four runs on five hits to blow the lead out to 6-0

While the deflating loss was certainly not what Australia had expected entering the contest; the Aussie skipper was able to take at least a few positives away from the game
“I think we were able to limit their offence with good pitching for most of the evening” Deeble said
“We defended really well, and when you consider that they only hit one or two balls hard before that eighth inning, we were never truly out of the game until very late”

Australia will look to bounce back against Japan tomorrow by re-igniting their offence in Friday’s final match-up, a game that is expected to draw well in excess of 20,000 fans

Japan defeated Australia 6-0 in a warm-up for next month's Asian qualifiers for the baseball tournament at the Beijing Olympics

Takahiro Arai drove in a run in the first inning and Atsunori Ibata made it 2-0 in the fourth inning at Fukuoka Dome with a single to left
Japan scored four more runs in the eighth

One team will qualify for the Olympics in the December 1-3 qualifiers to be held in Taiwan

Two more teams will advance from Asia in a tournament to be held in March 2008, also in Taiwan

Australia last week finished sixth in the baseball World Cup in Taipei, their best ever finish in the tournament