Roundup

Canada, Cuba to finish pool play; Japan clinches first place

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Cuba beat Italy 5-0 and Canada defeated Australia 11-0 Sunday to conclude the Olympic men's round-robin baseball schedule ahead of the medal playoffs.

Earlier, Japan beat Greece 6-1 to finish in first place and Taiwan downed the Netherlands 5-1.

The results mean Japan will play fourth-place Australia and second-place Cuba takes on third-place Canada in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Japan opened the scoring in the first inning on Michihrio Ogasawara's run-scoring double, then added the rest of its runs in the sixth and seventh on a two-run homer from Kosuke Fukudome and a solo home run by Yoshinobu Takahashi.

Erik Pappas homered for Greece's only run in the bottom of the seventh as the hosts closed out their tournament with a record of 1-6.

Taiwan handed the Dutch their fifth loss in seven matches. Taiwan improved to 3-4 and finished fifth.

Australian pitcher Graeme Lloyd said Australia's 9-4 win over Japan in the preliminaries will help the Aussies in the semis.

"We got them one time and maybe they have some doubt in their minds. Hopefully that will help," said Lloyd.