Hardy leads way in comeback
McGehee's grand slam helps erase four run deficit

Brewers 10, Australia 5
Phoenix, Ariz
March 5, 2009

Australia at the plate
In the second of Australia's three exhibition tuneups for the World Baseball Classic, Justin Huber hit a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning and the visitors tacked on two more runs in the fourth for a brief 4-0 lead
Shortstop Brad Harman hit a solo homer in the sixth to make it a one-run game before the host Brewers pulled away

Brewers at the plate
The Brewers had no hits and sent the minimum nine batters to the plate through three innings before batting around and scoring six times in the fourth
J.J. Hardy cut a 4-0 deficit in half with a two-run home run, and five batters later, Casey McGehee clubbed a two-out grand slam that just cleared the fence in left field and gave the Brewers a 6-2 lead
Mike Lamb hit a two-run double in the eighth inning

Australia on the mound
Starter Damian Moss allowed only Jason Kendall's double through the first three innings before hitting major trouble in the fourth, allowing two walks and five hits, including a pair of home runs
Liam Hendricks worked in relief and did not allow an earned run in three solid innings with three strikeouts

Brewers on the mound
Seth McClung started in place of Braden Looper, who is sidelined by a strained oblique muscle, and worked in and out of trouble throughout a three-inning stint
McClung was charged with two runs - both scored on Huber's homer in the first inning - on four total hits and two walks
He struck out three
Closer Trevor Hoffman continued to cruise through the spring season with a scoreless seventh inning that included two strikeouts, and Nick Green worked the final two innings for the save

Brew too strong for the Aussies

Team Australia came out strong against the Milwaukee Brewers today at Maryvale Baseball Park, Arizona for the second game of their pre-WBC exhibition tournament, leading the game 4-0 until the fourth inning, a lead that the Brewers worked tirelessly to steal posting a final 10-5 run count in their favor

The Aussies were quick out of the gate, posting runs on the board in their first at bat when Justin Huber hit a two-run homer off starter Seth McClung, batting in Trent Oeltjen and giving them a 2-0 lead

Australia added another pair to their lead in the top of the fourth, one on a sacrifice fly RBI from Trent Oeltjen that brought in Brad Harman, and another on a throwing error by second baseman Rickie Weeks, advancing their lead to 4-0

Southpaw Damian Moss threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, but showed signs of fatigue in the bottom of the fourth, something the Brewers capitalized on, batting in six runs to take the lead
With two already in on J.J. Hardys two-run homer, Moss loaded the bases and allowed another long ball for a grand slam by Casey McGehee, giving the Brewers a two-run lead at 6-4

The Aussies retaliated in the top of the sixth when Brad Harman hit his first home run in his WBC campaign, adding another run to Team Australia's total, and placing them just one run behind Milwaukee at 6-5

In the seventh Craig Counsell's RBI single returned it a two run ball game
Alcides Escobar's ground-rule-double added another, taking it to 8-5
Mike Lamb doubled and drove in two, finalizing the score at 10-5

Relieving Moss in the fifth for Team Australia, Liam Hendriks worked three innings without an earned run, striking out three and walking one
Josh Hill completed the Aussie rotation, going one inning with two hits, two runs, one walk and one strikeout

Despite some small hiccups, Manager Jon Deeble is pleased with the overall progression of his pitching staff, and with the final two pieces of the bullpen puzzle arriving within the last twenty-four hours, he is confident that Australia will perform on the mound
"I am pleased with the pitching at the moment
At this stage we are focusing on getting the guys ready, stretching them out further and building their pitch counts
With Brad Thomas and Rich Thompson now in the mix, we have our closers, and hopefully we will get them enough time into the games"

Team Australia play will their final Exhibition Game on Friday against the Chicago White Sox in Glendale at 1.05pm local time
Wes Whisler will start for the Sox and Paul Mildren will open for Team Australia

After the game the team will travel to Mexico City to face their first opponent Mexico, in Round One of the 2009 World Baseball Classic