Curtis Mead hit a three-run homer in the third inning, powering Australia to a 5-1 win over the Czech Republic on Friday in a World Baseball Classic Pool C game at Tokyo.
The Aussies moved to 2-0 in the round-robin phase with games against defending champion Japan and South Korea remaining. The Czechs fell to 0-2.
Mead, a Chicago White Sox infielder, finished the night with two hits, as did Australian teammates Alex Hall, Jarryd Dale and Chris Burke. Hall hit a solo homer in the ninth inning before Robbie Perkins added an RBI single.
Australian starter Josh Hendrickson got the win after throwing three innings of one-run ball.
The Czechs opened the scoring in the second inning on a sacrifice fly from Vojtech Mensik. Martin Cervenka had half of the team’s four hits.
Czech starter Tomas Ondra yielded three runs in 3 1/3 innings.
