Aussies miss bronze medal baseball game
Australia have finished sixth at their first Premier12 baseball tournament, falling 5-1 to Taiwan in Tokyo to miss a spot in the bronze-medal playoff.
Taiwan scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday afternoon in their final super-round game.
Instead, the US will face Mexico on Sunday for Premier12 bronze and a spot in next year's Olympic Games in Japan.
Wang Wei-Chen drove in the go-ahead run before Lin Che-Hsuan's three-run homer gave Taiwan a more-comfortable cushion.
Yueh Tung-Hua walked with one out in the eighth and advanced to third on a single from Kao Yu-Chieh to start the inning before Wang and Lin against reliever Ryan Searle.
The Aussie men were unable to rally in the ninth as Chen Hung-Wen retired the side.
Earlier, Logan Wade's solo homer with one out in the sixth off reliever Lin Kai-Wei pulled Australia level.
Team Australia were competing at their first Premier12 tournament after ranking outside the world's top-12 for the inaugural 2015 tournament.
Australia will have another chance to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
They will have to win the Oceania Championship and the six-team last-chance qualifier in April in Taiwan.
Defending 2015 champions Korea, having booked their berth on Friday for the Olympics, will face Japan on Sunday night in the Premier12 gold-medal game.
