Alex Hall homered and drove in four runs as Australia beat the Czech Republic 8-3 on Monday to earn a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal berth with a second-place finish in Pool B.
Australia will face Pool A winner Cuba on Wednesday in the first quarterfinal game to be played at Tokyo Dome after winning three games and losing one in Pool B.
Pool B winner Japan and Pool A runner-up Italy meet Thursday in the second quarterfinal game.
Hall hit a solo home run to right in the first inning, his second of the tournament following one the previous day against Japan.
After Logan Wade doubled in two runs to put Australia ahead 3-1 in the seventh, Hall added a two-run triple an inning later at Tokyo Dome.
Czech starting pitcher Martin Schneider worked 5-1/3 innings of one-run ball, but Australia scored seven runs off Czech relievers.
"It's good to get through to the second round, and there's a sense of relief because we worked really hard," Australia's manager Dave Nilsson said. "We really have a good night of reflecting on what we've achieved."
Later Monday, South Korea picked up its second win, beating China 22-2 in a Pool B game called after five innings due to the tournament's mercy rule.
Reigning Korea Baseball Organization MVP Lee Jung Hoo went 2-for-2 with three RBIs against China, raising his batting average to .429 for the tournament.
South Korea (2-2), the Czech Republic (1-3) and China (0-4) were eliminated in the first round.
Meanwhile, Japan has decided to remove injured Hiroshima Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi from the roster and will bring in Orix Buffaloes reliever Soichiro Yamazaki, sources familiar with the matter said.
Kuribayashi has suffered a lower back strain.
Related coverage:
Baseball: Shohei Ohtani hits 1st WBC homer in Japan's rout of Australia
Baseball: Japan seals WBC quarterfinal berth as South Korea beats Czechs
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