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A furious late-game offensive onslaught erased any anxiety caused by a slow start in Australia’s 12-3 win over Italy in their last game of the 2025 U-18 World Cup.

Italy scored three unearned runs in the third inning to build an early 3-0 advantage.

But Australia turned it on, powering home with an eight-run fourth and three run fifth to put the game beyond doubt.

Australia finishes the tournament in eighth position and a 4-4 overall record.

It’s Australia’s best result at an U-18 World Cup since 2019, and two positions higher than their current world ranking of ten.

A nine-run second inning helped Australia dispatch South Africa 13-2 in the Placement Round at the Under-18 World Cup.

The big inning came at just the right time.

South Africa jumped the Aussies and led 2-0 after the first inning.

Australia responded by sending 13 batters to the plate in the second inning, tallying six hits, scoring nine times and taking advantage of four South African errors.

Josh Nati provided the getaway moment with a two-RBI double to right field to push the score to 6-2.

Seven different Australians recorded at least one base hit on Friday afternoon.

Tournament Hub: Follow Australia at the U18 World Cup

Lead-off man Will Hardy led the way.

The shortstop went 3-for-3 with two RBI, two runs, a hit-by-pitch and turned two double plays in the field.

Lachlan Vella and Devin Leahy also had a pair of hits.

Australia scored twice in both the third and fourth innings to push the game to run rule territory.

BOX SCORE: Stats and Plays vs South Africa

Deakin Filko pitched the first inning for Australia and gave up two runs. Ashton Kennedy pitched the next 3.0 frames, allowing just one hit, one walk and no runs.

Nate Quigg struck out the side to seal it.

The win moves Australia to 2-2 in the Placement Round. They play Italy (3-1) tomorrow at 11:30AM AEST.

A victory over the Italians by three or more runs guarantees an eighth place finish for Australia at the tournament.

CURRENT PLACEMENT ROUND STANDINGS

Head to WBSC Website for Up-To-Date Info and Super Round standings.

PLACEMENT ROUND STANDINGS

Australia is now in the Placement Round fighting for valuable world ranking points between 7-12.

Australia can finish as high as eighth in the tournament with a win over Italy by 3+ runs.

7. Cuba 4-0
8. Italy 3-1
9. Germany 2-2
10. Australia 2-2
11. China 1-3
12. South Africa 0-4

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head to Gametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X. We post the Top Plays and a Mini-Match of each game on YouTube.

A game recap will follow on this page.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at our Tournament Hub: www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

A one run loss to Cuba at a World Cup. It’s a sentence that’s become all too familiar for Australian baseball players.

File this under the category of “heartbreaker.”

Cuba sealed victory on a passed ball in a second extra inning to walk Australia off in the first game of the Placement Round at the 2025 U-18 World Cup. Final score: 2-1.

Australia were millimetres away from scoring the potential winning runs.

Twice.

But, a pair of phenomenal two-out, extra-inning defensive plays from Cuban infielders foiled Australia, kept runs off the board, and propelled the Latin Americans to victory.

The first: Eighth inning, two outs, runners on second and third. Matt Trainor appeared to have a sure base hit dumped into shallow right field but second baseman Leandro Perez had other ideas. He went full super man to rob a base hit.

The second: Ninth inning, two outs, runners on second and third. William Hardy laced a ground ball that looked to find a gap near shortstop.  Infielder Jonathan Moreno laid out to trap the ball. He bounced up, and fired across to first to end the inning.

In hindsight, Hardy appeared to have beat out the throw and was safe at first. A run would have scored, but Australia had already used their challenge and the ruling on the field stood.

Credit to Cuba.

BOX SCORE: Stats and Plays vs Cuba

To add a little salt to the wound, Australia had their opportunities.

In total, they left ten runners on base.

Australia had bases loaded and nobody out in both the first and sixth inning. Just one run was scored – a sixth inning sacrifice from James McFarlane.

Australia thought they had a 2-0 lead at one point. In fact, the scoreboard flashed that very line when Josh Nati appeared to have hit a two-run homer.

It was over turned. Ground rule double.

Full credit to Australian pitching. They were plucky. They were clutch. They gave the Green and Gold every chance to win.

Let’s start with Damien Wilson, who turned in his second outstanding start of the tournament.

Wilson chucked 5.0 innings with 4 hits, 1 earned run, six strikeouts and no walks. It came just five days after an eerily similar stat line vs Panama.

Tournament Hub: Follow Australia at the U18 World Cup

Kristian Haeusler stepped up in trying circumstances.

Haeusler entered the game with bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth and nobody out. He delivered a sacrifice fly, infield fly and ground out allowed Australia to escape allowing just the one run.

Haeusler worked the first two outs in the seventh before Australia’s fourth pitcher of the game, Matt Trainor, managed to induce a fly ball to force extras.

In the bottom of the first extra inning, Trainor navigated runners on first and second with nobody out. He retired the Cubans with a sacrifice bunt and two shallow fly balls.

Other bright spots include Eita Samukawa, who led Australia with a 2-for-3, 1 BB stat line.

Australia drops to 1-2 in the Super Round with games to come against South Africa and Italy. Cuba improves to 3-0.

CURRENT PLACEMENT ROUND STANDINGS

Australia is now in the Placement Round fighting for valuable world ranking points between 7-12. 

Head to WBSC Website for Up-To-Date Info and Super Round standings.

PLACEMENT ROUND STANDINGS

7. Cuba 3-0
8. Italy 2-1
9. Germany 2-1
10. Australia 1-2
11. China 1-2
12. South Africa 0-3

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head toGametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X. We post the Top Plays and a Mini-Match of each game on YouTube.

A game recap will follow on this page.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at our Tournament Hub:www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

Australia’s Super Round hopes at the Under-18 World Cup came to an end with a 11-1 loss to the USA on Tuesday morning.

To beat a team like the USA you have to be nearly perfect. The Australians were far from it.

Australia (2-3) made five errors in the field, hit three batters and walked five in the loss.
The game was closer than the score indicates.

It was 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, large in part to a wonderful 3.1 innings of shutout relief baseball from Ethan Bickel.

Tournament Hub: Follow Australia at the U18 World Cup

However, there were two wonky innings Australia may wish to have back.

USA scored three runs in the second inning where only two balls left the infield. Both of those balls were caught for outs.

The Americans scored their three off three walks, a hit-by-pitch and two errors.

USA scored seven runs in the sixth – all with two outs on the board. Two more errors, two more hit-by-pitches, and three walks helped plate the final runs.

BOX SCORE: Stats and Plays vs the USA

The USA outhit Australia 7-2.

Australia scored their lone run in the fifth off a wild pitch with the bases loaded. Ben Nesbit and Matt Trainor had the base hits for Australia.

All three American pitchers used had a mid-90s fastball.

The USA finish Pool Play with a perfect 5-0 record. They’ve outscored opponents 53-4.

Australia will head to the Placement Round and will begin with a 1-1 or 2-0 record. The schedule has yet to be determined.

CURRENT STANDINGS

Top three advance to Super Round. Each team plays five games. Standings accurate as of 6:00PM on September 8.

Head to WBSC Website for Up-To-Date Info.

Pool A

Japan 4-0
Puerto Rico 3-1
Cuba 2-2
Korea 2-1
South Africa 0-3
Italy 0-4

Pool B (Australia’s Group)

Remaining games in parenthesis. *clinched Super Round

USA 5-0*
Chinese Taipei 3-1*
Germany 2-2
Australia 2-3
Panama 2-3
China 0-5

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head toGametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X. We post the Top Plays and a Mini-Match of each game on YouTube.

A game recap will follow on this page.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at our Tournament Hub:www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

photos by Scott Powick

Early game errors, walks and defensive miscues cost Australia in a big way during a 10-2 loss to World #2 Chinese-Taipei at the Under-18 World Cup.

It’s one of the weirdest line scores you’ll ever look at. Australia doubled up Chinese Taipei 10-5 in the hit department but gifted their opposition too many runs defensively.

Australia walked four, hit a batter, made three errors and had a runner picked off at second all in the first three innings.

There’s probably a lesson there.

Chinese Taipei were able to take advantage and never looked back. They scored five in the first and led 10-0 after three.

Australia battled to get two runs back late and put up four scoreless innings to end the game.

TOURNAMENT HUB: Australia at the U18 World Cup

The loss drops Australia to 2-2 with one group stage game to go. Chinese Taipei improve to 3-1 and are on the verge of locking in a Super Round spot.

Australia must beat the USA  tomorrow and hope Chinese Taipei beats Germany to advance to the Super Round.

“Today our guys learnt a lesson about international baseball and game speed,” says manager Jason Pospishil. “You can’t afford to give teams extra outs at any level. Our base running also prevented us from applying scoreboard pressure early.”

“On a positive note, I thought we swung the bats extremely well against probably the best pitching we have faced so far,” says Pospishil. “Gotta have a short memory and come ready to play and compete tomorrow.”

Among the Australian bright spots were a pair of two-way performances.

Ashton Kennedy went 3-for-3 at the plate while tossing 1.1 innings, allowing one walk, no runs and no hits.

Matt Trainor collected three hits, threw 1.2 perfect innings and produced an inning-ending double play ball.

Australia play USA in the crucial World Cup show down on Tuesday at 11:30AM AEST.

Watch on Baseball+.

Here is how the game unfolded:

RECAP

BOX SCORE: All the stats from Australia vs Chinese Taipei 

Australia looked like they could put up a big number early.

Matt Trainor, Ashton Kennedy and Josh Nati all ripped off two-out singles to load the bases. But Kennedy was picked off at second and Australia left the top of the first with nothing.

Chinese Taipei wasted no time to hit the scoreboard in the bottom of the first.

The World #2 racked up four hits in the first inning and scored five times. They blew it open with a two-out, two-RBI double from Sheng-En Zheng.

Australia didn’t help themselves either. They made two errors.

There were a few key moments Australia wish they had back – a tapper to the mound that looked like an inning ending double play didn’t come off. Then, an error at second on a ground ball. A throwing error helped Chinese Taipei score two runs.

Kristian Hauesler relieved Riley Puckett with two outs in the first.

A throwing error and a wild pitch cashed in Chinese Taipei’s sixth run in the second.

They put the game beyond doubt in the third.

After a series of walks, Kai-Qi Li ripped a bases-clearing triple to plate three more runs. He later scored on a sacrifice fly. 10-0.

Australia played well from there.

Ashton Kennedy (below) settled things down in the fourth on the mound. The reliever, who had two previous hits at the plate on the day, chucked a 1-2-3 inning with three soft contact pop outs.

Australia avoided the Run Rule loss by scoring in the fifth. Josh Nati had an RBI single with two outs on the board to cut the lead to 10-1.

Chinese Taipei threatened in the fifth. They had an early runner on because of a walk but reliever Matt Trainor produced an inning ending double play.

Trainor (below) pitched a perfect sixth inning too, finishing with 1.2 innings perfect innings pitched and three hits at the plate.

Singles to Lachlan Vella and James McFarlane helped Australia load the bases with nobody out in the sixth. They could score just one.

Will Hardy’s sacrifice fly made the score 10-2, but a runner was caught off the base for a double play.

Final Score: Chinese Taipei 10 def Australia 2.

Here are the stats. Mini-Match below.

CURRENT  STAGE STANDINGS

Top three advance to Super Round. Each team plays five games. Standings end of Day 3. Head to WBSC Website for Up-To-Date Info.

Pool A

Japan 3-0
Puerto Rico 3-1
Cuba 2-2
Korea 2-1
Italy 0-3
South Africa 0-3

Pool B (Australia’s Group)

Remaining games in parenthesis. *clinched Super Round

USA 4-0* (AUS)
Chinese Taipei 3-1 (GER)
Germany 2-2 (TPE)
Australia 2-2 (USA)
Panama 1-3 (CHN)
China 0-4 (PAN)

Australia can advance to the Super Round with:
– Win over USA; AND
– Chinese Taipei must defeat Germany;

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head to Gametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X. We post the Top Plays and a Mini-Match of each game on YouTube.

A game recap will follow on this page.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at our Tournament Hub: www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

KEY STORIES / NEWS

– RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS | Australia run away with 15-3 win over China to improve to 2-1 at U18 World Cup

– RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS | Gritty Australians pull out 4-1 victory over Panama to even U18 World Cup record

– RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS | Australia edged by Germany in U-18 World Cup Opener

– Why versatility matters for Australia at the U18 World Cup | Preview and Roster Story

– Team Australia announces 20-man roster for 2025 Under 18 World Cup

Team Australia picked up the biggest win by any team in any game thus far in the 2025 U-18 World Cup presented by RAXUS.

Final score: Australia 15 def China 3.

The fifteen runs is the most by any of the twelve teams in the tournament through two and a half days.

It was emphatic in every sense of the word.

Australia recorded 13 hits and allowed just two in a contest called early due to the run rule. They also worked seven walks and a pair of hit-by-pitches.

There were contributions from everyone. Ten different players recorded at least hit.

Eita Samukawa led the way again. The man who received his Australian citizenship just six months ago went 3-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and four runs.

Devin Leahy went 2-for-3 in his first start for the U18 national team.

Matt Trainor led Australia with four RBI. Josh Nati drove in three. Ashton Kennedy reached three times.

On the mound, Patrick Crotty and Deakin Filko combined to no-hit China through three innings. Nate Quigg recorded a pair of punch-outs in his close out effort.

You can view all the stats at the bottom of this story.

“It’s a similar story to yesterday,” says Team Australia manager Jason Pospishil. “Our discipline in our offensive approach was very good. We managed the strike zone well and stayed within an approach. That allowed us to execute consistently.”

“Pitching wise, we attacked the zone pretty well across the board. We got a little sloppy defensively at the end so that is something we will need to clean up for tomorrow,” he adds.

Australia improves their tournament record to 2-1 with two Group B games to play. Their next opponent is Chinese Taipei on Monday, followed by the USA on Tuesday.

They will either need to win one of those games to advance to the Super Round, or receive some help.

HUB: Follow Team Australia at the U-18 World Cup

Here’s how the game unfolded:

RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS

BOX SCORE: Stats from Australia vs China 

There were a lot of runs in this game. Before we hack into the scoring, let’s look at Australian pitching.

Patrick Crotty started for Australia. He threw 2.0 innings with two strikeouts, allowing no hits, no runs, one walk.

Deakin Filko followed with a perfect third inning featuring a punch out.

Nate Quigg pitched the final two innings before the game was called on the mercy rule. Quigg tossed 2.0 innings, allowing one run, one hit and two walks while collecting two strikeouts.

To the offence we go. It was systematic.

It didn’t take long for Australia to puncture the scoreboard.

The first four batters reached base – a Will Hardy walk, Eita Samukawa single, Matt Trainor on an error, and an Ashton Kennedy single.

Eita Samukawa is 5-for-6 with a walk and three HPB through three games. Photo: Scott Powick.

Kennedy and Christian Lane provided RBI base hits to put Australia up 3-0.

The first five batters reached in the second thanks to two singles (Devin Leahy and Hardy) and three base on balls. Two of the walks came with the bases loaded to score two runs. Josh Nati’s sacrifice fly pushed the score to 6-0.

Ben Nesbit capped off the second inning with a sharply hit ball that skipped past the shortstop, trickled into the outfield, and scored a pair. 8-0.

The Aussies added five more in the third. The biggest swing came from Matt Trainor who ripped a two-RBI double down the line. Jordan Ellis and Josh Nati both had RBI singles to help move the score to 13-0.

Christian Lane and Matt Trainor had sacrifice flies in the fifth inning to make it 15-1.

Lachlan Vella had a double – a nice moment for a player who missed the first two games due to illness (heat exhaustion).

China scored a couple runs off an error with two outs in the fifth when the game was beyond doubt.

The game was then called to run rule.

Up next: Chinese Taipei (1-1) at 3:30PM AEST on Monday afternoon.

CURRENT STANDINGS

Top three advance to Super Round. Standings accurate as of 2:30PM AEST on September 7. Head to WBSC Website for Up-To-Date Info.

Pool A

Japan 2-0
Cuba 2-0
Puerto Rico 2-1
Korea 1-1
South Africa 0-2
Italy 0-3

Pool B

USA 2-0
Germany 2-0
Australia 2-1
Chinese Taipei 1-1
Panama 0-2
China 0-3

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head to Gametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X.

A game recap will follow on this page.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at our Tournament Hub: www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

KEY STORIES / NEWS

– RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS | Gritty Australians pull out 4-1 victory over Panama to even U18 World Cup record

– RECAP & HIGHLIGHTS | Australia edged by Germany in U-18 World Cup Opener

– Why versatility matters for Australia at the U18 World Cup | Preview and Roster Story

– Team Australia announces 20-man roster for 2025 Under 18 World Cup

photos by Scott Powick / WBSC

Team Australia has picked up their first win of the 2025 U-18 World Cup with a gritty 4-1 victory over Panama in Okinawa.

It was a must win game for both teams.

With each side staring down the barrel of a potential 0-2 start to the tournament, Australia received a timely mix excellent pitching, clutch hitting and big defensive moments.

Damien Wilson (below) turned in an old-school performance on the mound.

Wilson pounded the strike zone, induced soft contact, and gave his country every chance to win.

He threw 5.0 innings, allowing one earned run off five hits, no walks and two strikeouts.

“He did a great job of changing speeds and working in and out,” says Team Manager Jason Pospishil. “He commanded all three pitches for strikes today and kept them off balance all day. We were very clean defensively behind him also.”

Wilson landed 49 of his 62 pitches for strikes.

Ethan Bickel tossed a pair of shutout innings to close it out.

Three of Australia’s runs came with two-out base hits.

Cooper Teichmann put Australia up 2-0 in the fourth, and Josh Nati provided two insurance runs with a two-out, two-RBI double to seal it in the seventh.

Nati, Teichmann and Eita Samukawa each muscled two hits for the victors.

Defensively, Australia turned a few tricks. They induced a crucial double play in the first, Christian Lane threw a runner out at home in the fourth, Cooper Teichmann threw a would-be base stealer in the sixth, and the Aussies teamed up to catch Panama in a seventh-inning rundown.

“Yesterday was a very disappointing day so I sort of challenged them to see how they would respond,” says Pospishil.

“We really liked the matchup of Wilson vs Panama. It’s a contrast of styles so we felt like we had a really good opportunity. Offensively our approach was much more controlled today. We had some very nervous players yesterday and our approach reflected that. We made some really good adjustments today.”

Australia improves to 1-1. They face China (0-1) next on Sunday at 11:30AM AEST in another must-win game.

Panama drops to 0-2.

Here’s how the game unfolded:

RECAP

BOX SCORE: Stats and numbers from Australia-Panama

It looked like a pitcher’s battle early.

Australia’s Damien Wilson and Panama’s Roderick Medina worked through the first two innings relatively untouched.

Australia drew first blood in the third.

After loading the bases with nobody out, Will Hardy produced a sacrifice fly to give Australia a 1-0.

That’s all they managed. Panamanian relief pitcher Juan Ortega induced a shallow fly ball and a ground out to limit the damage.

Ortega proceeded to pitch a plucky 4.2 relief innings to keep Panama in the game.

Australia doubled their lead in the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI double from Cooper Teichmann which scored Josh Nati from second.

Meanwhile, Damien Wilson kept plugging along on the mound for the Aussies.

Panama nearly scored in the fourth.

With a runner on second, Carlos Castillo slashed a ball to left field only for Christian Lane to fire a rocket to home. Runner out. Inning over. 2-0 for the Aussies after five.

Panama finally cracked through in the fifth. A lead off triple was scored off a bunt.

Wilson settled and appeared unphased.

He retired the next three in order and limited the damage to just one.

It was a cerebral, old school outing for Wilson. Not over powering, Wilson relied on strike-throwing, soft contact, ground balls and defense.

His final line is pretty: 5.0IP, 5H, 0BB, 1ER, 2SO.

49 of Wilson’s 62 pitches landed for strikes.

Ethan Bickel took over from there on the mound.

He was put under pressure in the sixth but Cooper Teichmann threw out a runner at second to remove a threat. It was Teichmann’s second runner caught stealing in two games.

Australia added to their lead in the seventh. With two outs and two runners on, Josh Nati (below) delivered a knock-out blow with a two-RBI double. 4-1.

Panama pushed their first two runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, putting pressure back on relief pitcher Ethan Bickel.

But Bickel (below) rolled off a pair of strikeouts to close it out and secure the win.

Australia improves to 1-1. They face China (0-2) on Sunday at 11:30AM AEST.

Panama drops to 0-2.

You can view up-to-date Team Australia info via our Tournament Hub at www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

WATCH LIVE

All of Team Australia’s games will be broadcast live and free on Baseball+ (geoblocked), Australia’s baseball streaming service.

The Team Australia Baseball YouTube account will post daily spoiler-free mini-matches of each of the games.

To watch any other game of the tournament, or to watch Australia outside of the country, head to Gametime.sport.

WHERE TO FOLLOW

Stories, photos, quotes and highlights will be posted on Team Australia Baseball social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X.

You can grab the most recent information and standings at www.baseball.com.au/u18worldcup.

KEY STORIES / NEWS

– Recap & Highlights | Australia edged by Germany in U-18 World Cup Opener

– WBSC Day 1 Recap: All the stories from opening day

– Why versatility matters for Australia at the U18 World Cup | Preview and Roster Story

– Team Australia announces 20-man roster for 2025 Under 18 World Cup

Germany came out on the winning end of a back-and-forth affair in Team Australia’s first game at the Under-18 World Cup presented by RAXUS.

Germany scored three unanswered runs in the fifth and sixth inning to erase a multi-run deficit and win 5-4.

Both teams had ample opportunities.

Germany led the hit column by a tally of 10-5 but Australia saw the lead off batter reach in five straight innings. The Aussies even had the winning run on base in the last with just one out to their name.

But it was Germany who delivered in the clutch. They tied the game in the fifth on a two-out, two-RBI single. They took the lead in the sixth on an error.

For Australia, Christian Lane led the way with a two-hit performance. Mitch Evans (4.0IP), Riley Puckett (1.2IP) and Kristian Haeusler (1.1IP) pitched well for Australia.

Here’s how the game unfolded:

HUB: Follow Australia at the U-18 World Cup