With two down in the bottom of the ninth Vince Rooi quieted a rawkus home crowd on the verge of a trip to the World Cup semifinals, sending the game into extra-innings where the the Dutch would eventually beat Chinese Taipei 6-3.

It was the third victory in a row for the Netherlands team who will now play Team USA, who beat Korea 3-1 Friday evening. Jeff Karstens struck out seven in seven innings and Andy LaRoche hit his third home run of the tournament to lead the Americans.

Baseball America has a worthwhile tourney review/semifinal preview of the Cup here.

Cuba looked solid in beating up on Mexico 6-0 and will now take on Japan who upset Australia 3-0 in an early game.

The Cuban team scored one in the first and three in the fifth and lefty Ariel Palma threw 6 2/3 innings of shut out ball before yielding to the bullpen. Cuba is in pursuit of its 11th straight World Cup title and 26th overall.

Japan’s win was the upset of the day. Relying the sensational pitching of Tadashi Settsu, who has now won three games in the Cup, Japan shut out one of the better offenses in the tournament. Australia managed just seven hits and only advanced a runner past second twice. Kohhei Hasebe closed the game out to pick up the save.

With the loss Australia moves into the 5th place bracket where Mexico awaits. The Australian squad still has the chance to finish with its best-ever showing at the Cup if it can win two games.