-
-
Australia came up just a few
inches short of victory in their second warm-up match of the 2007
World Cup campaign thanks in large part to a “Bloop”
triple, and a ground ball with enough “English” on it
to make Eddie Charlton turn in his grave
While the scoreboard may declare Chinese Taipei the 8 runs to
7 winners in Thursday’s game, had the baseball gods favoured
the Green and Gold machine a little more, things might have been
very different
The main damage came for Australia in the bottom of the fourth
inning when a bases-loaded blooper fell short of a diving Ben
Risinger in right field and rolling all the way to the warning
track and allowing three runners to score
Risinger, who was playing a little deeper than usual with two
outs, made a valiant attempt to snare the 'dying quail' but ultimately
came within a whisker of what would have been a spectacular catch
The cruel play put a dampener on what was an otherwise solid start
for the Northern Territory’s favourite son, Adrian Burnside
Early on, the veteran southpaw seemed he might get the best of
the home town Taiwanese in front of the vocal Chia-Yi crowd -
especially when he was buoyed by some timely Aussie offence over
the first two frames
But the lanky lefty ended up succumbing to Chinese Taipei’s
relentless offence, surrendering 5 runs on 10 hits in just 3-2/3
innings
At the plate, Ben Risinger wasted no time getting things rolling,
belting a 1-0 fastball high and deep into bleachers for an opposite-field
blast in the top of the first inning
And when Gavin Fingleson and Trent Oeltjen both laced 2-out RBI
singles in the top of the second innings, Australia was feeling
comfortable by way of an early 3-0 lead
But Chinese Taipei quickly clawed their way back, scoring in each
of the following four frames to take control of the game 7-2 and
erase any thoughts of a repeat of yesterday’s dominance by
the Aussies
However true to the “Mangy Dog” attitude which is fast
becoming the catch cry for the Australians, a ferocious four-run
seventh innings soon had the good guys right back in the mix
When Justin Huber drilled
a lead off triple to right-centre and was quickly followed with
hits to Glenn Williams, Brett Roneberg and Michael Collins, the
tide was certainly starting to turn
Then Gavin Fingleson decided it was time he announced his triumphant
return to Chia-Yi stadium with a 2-RBI single the score were tied
at seven apiece
Fingleson, who played two seasons in the Taiwan Major League,
had a stellar night, finishing with 3 hits and 3 RBI's to go along
with some 'rough and tumble' defensive plays that might have looked
more at home on the clay courts of Roland Garros than a baseball
field
And far from just testing the footing of athletes, Chia-Yi’s
red dirt felt it had a little more to offer on the final play
of the game by serving up a wicked bounce on a spinning ground
ball that shot through third-baseman Glen Williams on the final
play of the game
With the scores deadlocked and the Aussies relief corps of Brendan
Wise, Richard Thompson and Adam Bright holding the Taiwanese at
bay, a weak grounder that looked like the cue ball on one of snooker
legend Eddie Charlton’s breaks, snuck though Williams and
gave the home side a walk off win
Next up Australia play Italy in Yun-Lin on Friday ahead of their
final World Cup tune-up against the legendary Cubans
The game against Taiwan was
a long, long one that we lost on an error with two outs in the
bottom of the ninth innings
It didn't matter that we lost because we actually played really
well
With the wind howling in, we hit a lot of balls hard that just
died
I went one-for-five
Singled to rightfield my first at-bat and then grounded out to
first base
In my third at-bat, I smoked what I thought was a homer - but
it 'died in the wind for an hour'!!
Can't remember the fourth at-bat and then I struck out
Played first base and made some 'picks'
Overall, I felt great