Diamond Blacks miss spot at World Baseball Classic

An improved New Zealand effort wasn't enough to deny Chinese Taipei in the World Baseball Classic qualifier final in Taiwan.

The Diamond Blacks, beaten 10-0 in seven innings by Chinese Taipei earlier in the tournament, at least managed to force the game to nine innings as they sought a place in the World Baseball Classic, the sport's equivalent of the World Cup.

But they could only manage four hits against a Taiwanese pitching line-up which was without major league pitchers Wei-Yin Chen and Chien-Ming Wang, losing the game 9-0.

As in the first game, New Zealand couldn't get any timely hits and went 0-9 with batters in scoring position.

They came closest to scoring in the eighth inning when Scott Campbell got to third after a Daniel Lamb-Hunt double with one out, but Marko Lezaic and Max Brown both struck out to end the innings.

Campbell and Lamb-Hunt both hit safely twice and walked once, but the best the rest of the line-up could do was three walks.

Most of the damage was done by Chinese Taipei in the fourth inning, when they scored six runs to extend their lead to 7-0.

New Zealand ended the game without their manager Andy Skeels and relief pitcher Lincoln Holdzkom, who were ejected in the bottom of the seventh inning after Holdzkom hit Cheng-Min Peng on in the head with a pitch.

The Diamond Blacks had made the qualifier final after wins over Thailand and the Philippines.

NZN

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/co/HCaY/~3/Xnl_oSsrkfk/Default.aspx

carnie wilson missing reese witherspoon pregnant billy joel bent new york jets etch a sketch romney