Israel bow out of World Baseball Classic

Israel finished third in the quarter-final group, ahead of Cuba, but behind Japan and the Netherlands who advance to next week's semi-finals in Los Angeles.

True to form Team Israel were plucky and impressive against the world's top-ranked team in the Tokyo Dome. Tight pitching by both sides saw the game deadlocked for nearly two hours with Israeli pitcher Josh Zeid, excellent throughout the tournament, keeping the Japanese big hitters at bay.

The sixth innings was the undoing of Israel as substitute pitcher Dylan Axelrod was hit all over the park as the Japanese raced to a 5-0 lead.

More runs in the eighth and ninth innings gave the home team an unassailable 8-0 lead.

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