U.S. wakes up, rallies in fifth and six for win against Australia

The American bats weren’t going to stay silent for long.

By the fifth inning of their World Junior Baseball Championship opening game Saturday they were alive and kicking, and the Australians should start to feel the bruises on Sunday, falling 4-2 to even their record at 1-1.

The American’s No. 9 hitter, Michael Lorenzen, a seventh-round pick of the Seattle Mariners, delivered the key hit in the sixth, singling up the middle to score a pair, breaking open a one-run game, putting the U.S. up 4-1 at the time.

The slow start wasn’t completely unexpected by U.S. manager Garye LaFevers, who felt the quality of the teams his team faced in pre-tournament competition were a step or two below what they found upon arriving in Thunder Bay.

“All of a sudden it’s a different stage. It’s against a very good and talented Australian team who made us grind one out. Ideally we would have rather scored four or five runs every inning. But they have a lot to do with what we’re able to do,” Lafevers said.

“We’re happy with a 4-2 victory, where we had to grind some things out. We had to fabricate a couple of runs and that should only make us a little stronger later in the week. Australia did a very good job.”

Lorenzen said the team needed to find a little fear before it could strike back.

“I think we just needed some damage to be done to us for us to actually say we need to get our heads in the ballgame and play a good game. No one’s going to lay down for us, just because we’re the United States. They’re going to be coming after us even harder I think than anyone else.”

Come hard the Australians did in the early innings.

Sam Morris slammed a shot of the scoreboard off U.S. starter A.J. Vanegas with one out in the third that scored the game’s first run.

Armed with a lead, Australian starter Greg Mosel set the side down in order in the fourth, but after retiring the first batter in the fifth, trouble began.

Lorenzen walked and stole second. Tony Wolters, a third-round pick of the Cleveland Indians singled through the right side. A throwing error by RF Jake White allowed Lorenzen to round third and score while Wolters cruised into second.

He didn’t stay there long.

After Francisco Lindor walked, Marcus Littlewood slammed a double down the left-field line off reliever James Murphy, who entered the contest after the walk.

Australian manager Tony Harris said his team had too much rust to shake off and could have used Friday’s scheduled game against the on-again, off-again Venezuelan team to prep for the U.S.

It was not to be.

“Our bats did need a little bit of catching up. Obviously their starter had some velocity, and we hadn’t seen that velocity for a little while. We went to an early lead, and unfortunately our defence let us down a little bit,” Harris said.

“I think we gave them a little bit too much credit. We tried to be too quick defensively and we let them in a little bit. They had a chance to execute, got a good bunt down and had a base hit for two more runs and kind of took the wind out of our sails.”

Australia plays Chinese Taipei (1-0) Sunday at Baseball Central at 2 p.m. The U.S.(1-0) plays Italy(0-0) in the nightcap Sunday at Port Arthur Stadium.

South Korea 10 Netherlands 0: At Baseball Central, Ju Suk Ha went 3-for-5 and drove in four runs, powering South Korea to a win in its 2010 WJBC debut. U Ram Mun also knocked in a pair for the Koreans, the two-time defending champions. Kyu Chan gave up three hits over five innings to earn the win. Hugo van der Kooij gave up seven earned runs in five innings to take the loss for the Netherlands (0-2).

World views: Because the baseballs used for the WJBC are made in Japan and are in short supply, tournament officials are asking fans to return balls hit in the stands to foul-ball chasers for re-use ... Former Lakehead men’s basketball coach Lou Pero was in the U.S. dugout acting as team liaison ... The Australians were forced to wear windbreakers over their uniforms after a mix-up with the U.S. The Aussies washed the wrong uniform and the Americans had agreed to play in their blue uniforms. But instead they showed up with their greys, which would have caused too much confusion, officials said ... The Venezuelans have arrived and are playing Italy at Baseball Central, a game originally scheduled for Saturday morning.