Chinese Taipei didn't disappoint as they opened up the World Baseball classic with a 4-1 victory over Australia on Saturday. Thanks to Chien-Ming Wang, Taipei had an easy victory and find themselves just a game away from almost securing a spot in the second round of other tournament.
Wang went six innings of super-efficient baseball allowing just four hits, no walks and two strikeouts. To say that he had a better day than his counterpart Chris Oxspring is an understatement.
Australia's Oxpring had a tough outing going just 2.2 innings where he was hit hard. Chinese Taipei pounded him for five hits and three earned runs. They worked a walk and Oxspring struck out one batter.
Cheng-Min Peng really had a feast against Australian pitching going 2-3 with a run scored, a home run and two RBI. His big bop came in the bottom of the fifth inning and it was a solo shot. The right-hander went opposite field and increased the cushion for Wang.
Chinese Taipei never trailed in this one. They also didn't hesitate to get the scoring started getting a run in the first inning. Dai-Kang Yang led the attack by getting on base with a single. With no outs, Taipei decided to play small ball, bunted Yang over and then Peng got the scoring started with a base hit to right field bring in Yang for the score.
Australia got their only run on a home run from Stefan Welch in the seventh inning.
Next up for these teams, Chinese Taipei faces Netherlands on Sunday while Australia faces Korea on Monday.
