South Africa Beats New Zealand, Advances To WBC Qualifier Final

SEE ALSO: WBC Qualifying rosters

SYDNEY, Australia—The World Baseball Classic Qualifier finale is set after South Africa took down New Zealand 9-2 on Saturday night at Blue Sox Stadium.

South Africa now faces host Australia on Sunday, with the winner advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic.

South Africa took an early lead with one run in the first, and kept the offense coming throughout the matchup, also taking advantage of 10 walks.

“We got a little short in a lot of areas,” New Zealand manager Chris Woodward said. “We didn’t get to the inning that we wanted to (pitching-wise) so that cost us. We walked too many guys. You can’t win a baseball game when you walk that many guys. If we had attacked the hitters, they might have hit it, but then at least it would have given us a chance to get deeper into the game.”

South Africa added four runs in the fifth—highlighted by a two-run single from first baseman Keegan Swanepoel, his second of four hits—and after the Diamondblacks fought back with a two-run double from former Red Sox farmhand Moko Moanaroa in the fourth, South African catcher Kyle Botha cleared the bases in the sixth with a two-out double to give his team a six-run advantage.

“We came in here knowing exactly what we needed to do,” Swanepoel said. “Everyone contributed to the game today. We all went in with the mindset that we need to get on, we need to get hits, we need to move the guys around. And everyone came to the party with that today.”

Pirates prospect Gift Ngoepe walked in the ninth to push across the final run for South Africa.

“They were looking a bit tired and we’ve also got one or two arms that are a little bit weary,” South Africa manager Alan Phillips said. “It was just unfortunate we couldn’t capitalize early on. But like the guys have done most of this trip, they hung in there and they got the big outs, the big plays, some good defensive plays, and the hitting just seems to find a way to bring some runs around.”

Jared Elario got the start for South Africa and the 27-year-old righthander went 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on just two hits, walking five, hitting one and striking out three. Righty John Lee took the hill for New Zealand and gave up two runs on three hits with three walks and a strikeout in two frames of work.

South Africa’s pitching staff gave out seven free passes to bring the walk total in the game to 17, the tournament beginning to show some wear and tear on the arms with another game left to play for the South African side.

With the loss, New Zealand will have to wait for another chance to qualify years down the road. Though the team couldn’t finish its tournament with a win, the national program has seen plenty of growth from the last qualifying round and the team looks forward to the future.

“That’s where we place the most emphasis,” Woodward said. “We wanted to win this thing and give ourselves a chance to play Australia tomorrow and go for the upset. Along the way, we developed a lot of those guys and planted a seed with what they have to do in their growth and development.”

Saturday’s winners take on Team Australia’s Southern Thunder in Sunday’s finale, with the winner returning to the WBC next year at a location to be announced next month.

Former Mariners lefthander Travis Blackley will start for the Aussies, with Kyle Gaddin on the hill for visiting South Africa.

“It’s a big challenge, but if you want to move along in the world of baseball, you’ve got to try to come against those type of pitchers,” Phillips said of facing Blackley. “We plan to try and follow (Gaddin) with one or two guys who haven’t really had a full chance to throw in the tournament so far, but we’ll take it inning by inning and just see where we stand tomorrow with some of the arms.”