WBC: Australia ended Czech quarterfinal dreams
Czechs played their last game at 2023 World Baseball Classic on Monday morning. For a long time they kept the dream of advancing to quarterfinals alive. Unfortunately, Australia took the best of them in the end.
Australia showed right away they wanted to finally advance from the group stage. Alex Hall continued where he finished in the game against Japan and gave Australia a lead with a solo homerun.
But Martin Schneider then started to control game and he remained on the mound until the sixth inning. Czech starter threw 5.1 innings, only allowing the solo homerun and one walk. Unfortunately, he had to be substituted due to pitch limit.
Czechs leveled the score in the third inning, after Eric Sogard’s RBI. National team had many solid contacts, but they often went to places with defensive players, while Australia also outdone themselves.
The hopes of the national team came crashing down in the seventh inning. Martin Minařík was unable to hold the batters and so Australia took a two run lead. They reached the maximum amount of run Czechs could allow if they wanted to advance to the next stage. Unfortunately the following inning didn’t improve their situation. Marek Minařík allowed a runner on base and was then substituted by Daniel Padyšák. However, he too was unable to stop the Australian offense, who added three more runs. This buried Czech chances.
Despite this Czechs got two runners on bases in the eighth inning, who were then sent home by Marek Chlup.
But Australia took two runs back in the following inning, after two of their batters got on base and Michal Kovala had to be substituted from the mound. Jan Tomek, along with Czech defense, were unable to keep the runners on bases and thus, national team entered the bottom half of the ninth inning 5 runs behind.
Manager Dave Nilsson sent in Jon Kennedy, who played for Hroši Brno in the previous season. Czech coaches sent in several pinch-hitters who loaded the bases with one out. Unfortunately no runs came from the situation.
Czechs will now await the result of China – South Korea game. If Korea wins, Czechs will be part of 2026 WBC without the need to qualify. The same situation will occur if Korea loses, but scores at least 5 runs.
„It is not often that a manager feels good after losing,“ said Pavel Chadim at the post-game press conference, where he arrived with Japanese headband. „I think boy handled the entire tournament well. I am proud of them. We played with TOP 10 team and were 8-8 for hits. We were 3 innings away from scoring a run and advancing to quarterfinals, which is incredible. If my feelings are correct, Korea should beat China and we will be back in 3 years.“
„I am convinced that if pitching limit didn’t stop Martin Schneider, we celebrate the win,“ commented Chadim on his starting pitcher.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
