Australia and KBO's Hanwha Eagles tie International Baseball Showdown

World No. 12 Australia tied the International Baseball Showdown three-game series with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) league at Melbourne Ballpark.

Game One on Friday was rain affected and saw Australia defeat the Eagles 4-0 in four innings with Aussie starter Alexander Wells - the Australian Baseball League (ABL) Helms Award winner for the regular season's MVP - dominating the Korean lineup. Captain Tim Kennelly put Australia ahead with a solo home run, and WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup star Alex Hall added a run with a sacrifice fly. Briley Knight provided the other two runs with a homer.

Hanwha Eagles came from behind to win the second game, 6-5.

Australia took an early lead on Jesse Williams' RBI single and extended the lead to take a 5-2 score into the sixth. But the Hanwha Eagles cut the deficit to 5-4 thanks to the small ball and tied the game on a pinch-hit home run by In-ho Choi.

Catcher Ji-youn Han, an 18-year-old rookie, won the game in the ninth with an RBI double.

The rubber match on Sunday ended in a 2-2 tie. Australia and the Eagles scored in the first before the home team broke the tie in the seventh on a RBI single by Robbie Perkins but the Eagles responded with Sung-un Park. Persistent winds bothered the game.