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Australia’s affinity for dramatic finishes at the 2007 World Baseball Cup has continued – this time with a gutsy 4-2 win over rank outsiders Germany in Taipei on Tuesday

While it was anything but pretty, the victory now assures Australia of at least third place in Pool B, and means they are likely to avoid playing the highly seeded United States squad in the cross-over quarter final stage

As has been the story for much of the tournament, Australia’s pitching was impressive, with Tuesday’s nod going to rookie Dushan Ruzic who continues to bamboozle opposition offences in his debut World Cup campaign
Just three days after his clutch relief performance against Venezuela, the six-foot-eight-inch right hander fired four scoreless frames against the Germans to shoulder the Aussies in the game’s opening stages
The lofty hurler now has fired an impressive 7.1 scoreless innings in the 2007 World Cup, allowing just five hits and striking out seven along the way

At the plate, Australia again turned to their spark-plug centerfielder Trent Oeltjen, who scored twice and banged out another four singles, giving him his fourth multi-hit game of the tournament
Oeltjen, who invariably remains modest about his performance, was typically reserved when quizzed on his efforts Tuesday
“I guess I feel pretty comfortable in the batter’s box right now and I seem to just keep hitting the ball in the right places” Oeltjen said
“The first at-bat I hit the ball pretty hard right back at the pitcher, and I was surprised he stayed in the game after trying to catch it barehanded”

Cuban born German starting pitcher Enorbel Marquez, continued on the mound despite Oeltjen’s shot that deflected off his pitching hand, and was solid for his adopted country, managing to temper the formidable Aussie offence
Marquez, who was threatened by the Australian sluggers in almost every inning, managed to limit the damage thanks to some key strikeouts and the help of his at times spectacular defence

The turning point for the Aussies came with two-out in the bottom of the fourth inning, when back-to-back singles from Tom Brice and Luke Hughes each drove in runs after it looked like the Germans might escape unscathed

And when three innings later, an RBI single from Glenn Williams scored Oeltjen to extend the lead to four; what had been an uncomfortable margin was starting to look more like the one Australia had envisioned going into the lowly ranked Germans

But just when the Green and Gold camp thought the game was in the book, a German rally ignited against relief pitcher Scott Mitchinson and returned the Aussies to some all too familiar territory – a close game, late in the day

With one out in the top of the eighthth, Mitchinson allowed German infielders Jendrick Speer and Jens Heymer to reach base safely
And when he was relieved by Queenslander Tristan Crawford, clean-up hitter Kai Gronauer capitalised immediately, driving a pitch to the outfield wall that scored two
Even after Crawford ended the threat by retiring the next two batters, the Australians might have been forgiven for thinking that the plucky Europeans had played their ace
But as seems to be the case in all of their games during the World Cup, the Australian team kept fans on the edge of their seats when a ‘bloop’ hit followed by an uncharacteristic error from defensive wiz Brad Harman, brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the ninth inning
Despite the threat, Australian pitcher Brad Thomas induced a weak ground ball to second base to end the game, earning him his first save of the tournament

Boasting a 5-1 win-loss record, Australia will now play Canada on Wednesday in a game that will likely determine second and thirrd place in Pool B
The Australians, who continue to be tipped as Gold Medal contenders by many baseball pundits, will be eager to maintain their momentum into the second round with a good showing against their traditional rivals

And while the final quarter finalists in Pool A are yet to be determined, a second place finish would help Australia to avoid either the power-packed USA or host nation Chinese Taipei, who have been enjoying the fanatical support of sell-out local crowds

Australia moved to a comfortable 5-1 record as they defeated a scrappy Germany team this afternoon in Taipei, 4-2

The heavily favored Aussie's scored the first run in the bottom of the first on a Michael Collins sac-fly off of German starter Enerbol Marquez to score a red hot Trent Oeltjen who was 4 for 4 in the game

Dushan Ruzic got the start for Australia and went four innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen who surrendered a pair of runs on a clutch double by German catcher Kai Gronauer in the eighth

Marquez went the distance for Germany striking out five and walking one Australian hitter

Australia will play Canada next and Germany will take on Korea

Australia clinched the number two seed in Group B on Tuesday with a tougher than expected 4-2 win over a stubborn German squad

Germany got another solid performance from left-hander Enorbel Marquez who went the distance in limiting the Aussies to just four runs in a losing effort

Australia got four scoreless innings from starter Dushan Ruzic and reliever Scott Mitchinson was coasting along until the Germans made things a little interesting
Trailing 4-0 in the eighth frame, German catcher Kai Gronauer stroked a two-run double to close the gap to 4-2
But Aussie pitcher Brad Thomas slammed the door on any upset bid registering two of the final three outs with strikeouts

The ball continues to be coming in “slo-mo” for Aussie centerfielder Trent Oeltjen who tallied four hits from the leadoff spot

Justin Huber and Glenn Williams were both 2-for-4 for Australia which collected eleven hits in the game

German leadoff man Sascha Lutz was 2-for-5 and had one of three doubles hit by Germany which had seven players join the hit parade

The Aussies will square off against Canada on Wednesday to close out their round robin slate
The Germans will finish the tournament against Korea on Wednesday