Hermosillo, Mexico – The Canadian U18 Men’s National Team came back to defeat Australia 4-3 to finish second in Group A at the WBSC World Cup on Wednesday. Canada trailed 2-0 until Nolan Bultena (Arthur, Ont.) tied the game with a two-run single and Danny Scott (Stratford, Ont.) hit a go-ahead two-run homerun in the top of the sixth to propel the red and white to victory.
 
The game was scoreless through two and a half innings with each team putting runners on base with walks before Australia got on the board in the bottom of the third, getting the games first hit with a single later followed by a two-run homerun. Canada got its first hit when Blake Brubacher (Newton, Ont.) led off the fifth with a single, but he was thrown out at second trying to stretch his hit into a double.
 
In the top of the sixth, Joe Weiler (Hepworth, Ont.) and Alex McGillivray (Durham, Ont.) each singled to start the inning and were sacrificed ahead to second and third by Sharl Leclerc (Sainte-Claire, Que.) before Bultena drove a hard ground ball off the diving second baseman’s glove to score two runs and tie the game, and Scott immediately followed with an opposite field homerun to right as Canada grabbed the 4-2 lead.
 
Australia scored a run in the bottom of the sixth, getting a leadoff double with the runner later scoring in a single up the middle. However, Cohen Christner (New Hamburg, Ont.) was able to shut things down for Canada, retiring three batters in the seventh after issuing a walk to start the inning.
 
Box Score: Canada 4 vs. Australia 3
 
Nate Thiessen (Surrey, B.C.) started the game in the circle for Canada and pitched five strong innings to earn the win, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out seven batters. Christner allowed one hit and struck out one in the final two innings for the save.
 
The win improved Canada’s record to 4-1 and they will carry a 1-1 record into the Super Round, which will begin on Thursday. The red and white will play its first Super Round game against Japan (1-1, second in Group B) at 5:00pm local time (7:00pm EST), and will face the United States (2-0, first in Group B) on Friday and Venezuela (0-2, third in Group B) Saturday. Both of those games will also be at 5:00pm local time.
 
On the final day of the preliminary round, Czechia thumped Colombia 10-1, Venezuela edged Argentina 3-2 to advance to the Super Round, New Zealand earned their first win by beating the United States 10-8 and Mexico defeated Singapore 11-3 in the late game.