---Spain v Australia---

Aussie bats and arms 'Reign over Spain' - 9 to 0 rout keeps faint Olympic hopes alive
The Australian Baseball Team still holds out some hope of qualifying for Beijing after an impressive 9-0 rout over Spain evened their win-loss record at 3-3 with one game remaining in Taiwan
While their fate essentially remains out of their hands, there was no telling that on Thursday afternoon as the team combined to dominate both sides of the ledger, pounding out nine unanswered runs on fourteen hits, while only allowing a solitary, second-inning single in the one sided affair
Australia’s 2007 World Cup hero Greg Wiltshire started on the mound for the Aussies and was looking to bounce back after a rough outing against Korea five days ago
Wiltshire did exactly that, as he cruised through the first four frames, striking out four and facing just one more hitter than the minimum required
But while Wiltshire barely raised a sweat in mowing down the opposition, his Spanish counterpart found things much tougher, allowing a soul destroying eight runs on eight hits in his 3.1 innings of work
Particularly ruthless at the plate were Brendan Kingman (3 for 5, 3 RBI), Luke Hughes (2 for 4, 2 RBI) and Ben Risinger who finished the day with four hits from his five at bats, including a monster two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning
In fact Risinger, who drove in four runs on the day, nearly finished the afternoon early when his towering shot in the seventh inning that would have cleared the fence and ended the game by way of the 10-run mercy rule, was knocked down by the howling gale blowing in from left field and caught up against the outfield wall
While the Aussies failed to hammer the final nail into the Spanish coffin, it mattered little as Chris Mowday, Mark Kelly and Brendan Wise continued where Wiltshire had left off, not allowing a hit and permitting just one runner to advance to second base over the final five innings
The win means Australia must now turn their attention to the result of the game between Canada and Korea, where a Canadian loss would prolong the Aussies Olympic hopes at least another twenty-four hours (NOTE - Canada defeated Korea ...... Australia out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics!!!)
If the baseball gods decide to shine, Australia will look to their final match-up against a winless South African squad tomorrow and hold out hope of a German upset over Canada

Australia beats Spain with One-Hitter
The Aussies scored three runs in three of the first four frames and defeated Spain by a score of 9-0
They now have to hope for a loss of Canada in the night session
Ben Risinger, Brendan Kingman and Luke Hughes had RBI-singles in the first to take a fast 3-0 lead
They added three more in the second through a two-run-homerun by Risinger and a second RBI-single of Kingman
After a scoreless frame they scored another three in the fourth
Risinger got his fourth RBI with a single
Kingman's third RBI-single made it 8-0
Hughes followed with another RBI-single
Afterwards the Australian offense stopped scoring
Spain never got going
Dewis Navarro had a single in the second, which counted for the only hit of the game for them
Starter Greg Wiltshire struck out four in four one-hit innings
Chris Mowday, Mark Kelly and Brendan Wise completed the one-hitter
Yoel Hernandez (L 0-2) didn’t match his performance from the loss against Germany
He was charged with eight hits, eight runs (5 ER) and a walk in 3-1/3 innings
Jorge Balboa stopped the bleeding with a solid effort over the course of 4-2/3 innings of relief
He allowed just one run on five hits and three base on balls
Australia meets with South Africa on Friday

Top 1st (SPAIN At Bat)
Pedro MENDEZ - Grounds out to 3B, 5-3, (1 out)
Daniel SANCHEZ - Hit by pitch, (1 out)
Daniel FUGUEROA - Grounds into double play, 5-4-3, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 1st (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Paul WEICHARD - Grounds out to SS, 6-3, (1 out)
Daniel BERG - Reaches on a fielding error to SS, (1 out)
With RISINGER batting BERG steals 2B, (1 out)
Ben RISINGER - Singles on a ground ball to CF (RBI), BERG scores, AUSTRALIA 1-0, (1 out)
Glenn WILLIAMS - Walks, RISINGER advances to 2B, (1 out)
Tom BRICE - Line drive to SS (error), RISINGER advances to 3B, WILLIAMS advances to 2B, (1 out)
Brendan KINGMAN - Singles on a line drive to LF (RBI), RISINGER scores, WILLIAMS advances to 3B, BRICE advances to 2B, AUS 2-0, (1 out)
Luke HUGHES - Singles on a ground ball to LF (RBI), WILLIAMS scores, BRICE advances to 3B, KINGMAN advances to 2B, AUS 3-0, (1 out)
Joel NAUGHTON - Grounds into a double play, 6-4-3, HUGHES out at 2B, (3 out)
(3 Runs, 3 Hits, 2 Errors)

Top 2nd (SPAIN At Bat)
Devis NAVARRO - Singles on a line drive to LF, (0 out)
Ricardo RODRIGUEZ - Strikes out looking, (1 out)
Marc CARRILLO - Strikes out looking, (2 out)
Jose RIERA - Strikes out swinging, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)

Bot 2nd (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Brad DUTTON - Grounds out to SS, 6-3, (1 out)
Paul WEICHARD - Strikes out swinging, (2 out)
Daniel BERG - Singles on a line drive to RF, (2 out)
Ben RISINGER - Hits a HOME RUN to CF (2RBI), BERG scores, RISINGER scores, AUS 5-0, (2 out)
Glenn WILLIAMS - Walks, (2 out)
Tom BRICE - Hit by Pitch, WILLIAMS advances to 2B, (2 out)
Brendan KINGMAN - Singles on a line drive to LF (RBI), WILLIAMS scores, BRICE out at 3B attempting to advance, AUS 6-0, (3 out)
(3 Runs, 6 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 3rd (SPAIN At Bat)
Lesther GALVAN - Flys out to CF, (1 out)
Nestor PEREZ - Grounds out to SS, (2 out)
Pedro MENDEZ - Flys out to CF, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 3rd (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Luke HUGHES - Strikes out swinging, (1 out)
Joel NAUGHTON - Flys out to LF in foul ground, (2 out)
Brad DUTTON - Pops out to LF, (3 out)
(0 Run, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 4th (SPAIN At Bat)
Daniel SANCHEZ - Grounds out to 3B, 5-3, (1 out)
Daniel FUGUEROA - Strikes out swinging, (2 out)
Devis NAVARRO - Grounds out to SS, 6-3, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 4th (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Paul WEICHARD - Flys out to CF, (1 out)
Daniel BERG - Doubles on a line drive to LF, (1 out)
Ben RISINGER - Singles on a line drive to RF (RBI), BERG scores, AUS 7-0, (1 out)
Pitching Change #23 Jorge BALBOA replaces Yoel HERNANDEZ
Glenn WILLIAMS - Flys out to CF, (2 out)
With BRICE batting RINGER advances to 2B on a wild pitch, (2 out)
Tom BRICE - Singles on a line drive to CF, RISINGER advances to 3B, (2 out)
Brendan KINGMAN - Singles on a line drive to CF, (RBI), RISINGER scores, BRICE avances to 2B, AUS 8-0, (2 out)
Luke HUGHES - Singles on a ground ball to LF (RBI), BRICE scores KINGMAN advances to 2B, AUS-90, (2 out)
Joel NAUGHTON - Grounds into fielder's choice, HUGHES out at 2B, (3 out)
(3 Runs, 5 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 5th (SPAIN At Bat)
Pitching Change #34 Chris MOWDAY replaces Greg WILTHSIRE
Defensive change #31 Andrew UTTING replaces Joel NAUGHTON as Catcher
Defensive change #19 James LINGER replaces Brad DUTTON at SS
Ricardo RODRIGUEZ - Flys out to CF, (1 out)
Marc CARRILLO - Grounds out to 3B, (2 out)
Jose RIERA - Flys out to LF, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 5th (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
James LINGER - Flys out to RF, (1 out)
Paul WEICHARD - Flys out to LF, (2 out)
Daniel BERG - Walks, (2 out)
Ben RISINGER - Singles to RF, BERG advances to 3B, (2 out)
Glenn WILLIAMS - Pops out to C in foul ground, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 6th (SPAIN At Bat)
Lesther GALVAN - Strikes out looking, (1 out)
Nestor PEREZ - Pops out to SS, (2 out)
Pedro MENDEZ - Grounds out to 3B, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 6th (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Tom BRICE - Singles to RF, (0 out)
Brendan KINGMAN - Pops out to 2B, (1 out)
Luke HUGHES - Pops out to 2B, (2 out)
Andrew UTTING - Walks, BRICE advances to 2B, (2 out)
James LINGER - Pops out to 1B, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)

Top 7th (SPAIN At Bat)
Pitching Change #32 Mark KELLY replaces Chris MOWDAY
Daniel SANCHEZ - Flys out to RF, (1 out)
Daniel FUGUEROA - Walks, (1 out)
Miguel MORA - Strikes out swinging, (2 out)
Ricardo RODRIGUEZ - Grounds out to 3B, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 7th (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Paul WEICHARD - Grounds out ot C, 2-3, (1 out)
Daniel BERG - Flys out to CF, (2 out)
Ben RISINGER - Flys out to deep LF, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 8th (SPAIN At Bat)
Marc CARRILLO - Strikes out swinging, (1 out)
Jose RIERA - Strikes out swinging, (2 out)
Lesther GALVAN - Walks, (2 out)
Nestor PEREZ - Pops out to shallow CF, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Bot 8th (AUSTRALIA At Bat)
Glenn WILLIAMS - Walks, (0 out)
Tom BRICE - Flys out to CF, (1 out)
Brendan KINGMAN - Grounds into Double play, 4-6-3, WILLIAMS out at 2B, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Top 9th (SPAIN At Bat)
Pitching Change #28 Brendan WISE replaces Mark KELLY
Pedro MENDEZ - Flys out to RF, (1 out)
Daniel SANCHEZ - Flys out to 2B, (2 out)
Daniel FUGUEROA - Walks, (2 out)
Victor LOPEZ - Walks, FIGUEROA advances to 2B, (2 out)
Ricardo RODRIGUEZ - Lines out to RF, (3 out)
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
GAME OVER - AUSTRALIA WINS 9-0

Well, I am very pissed off that we are pretty much out of the Olympics
As of right now, Canada is beating Korea ... and we need Canada to lose today and then again tomorrow against Germany!!
It doesn't look good for us at all
In the game against Taiwan, I struck out my first at-bat
Then I hit a bullet up the middle that the shortstop made an awesome play for
Then I hit it hard again but straight at the second baseman
Two hard hit balls ... but no results ... so shit!!!!!!!!
Right now I am pretty pissed off I didn't play today against Spain
We faced a righty and he sucked as you could very well tell from the score ... and I didn't get a sniff!!
I am thinking that I also wont be playing tomorrow against South Africa because it wont mean anything at all
And it's time to start healing my foot, I guess
Not sure what will happen but you will see tomorrow during the box scores
I am disappointed over here but not much I can do about it
Hit some balls hard but didn't get anything
Still very pissed about the games against Mexico and Taiwan ... Oh well!!
???What now???