URGENT: Baseball: Ohtani hits 1st WBC homer as Japan beats Australia

Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw four dominant innings as Japan trounced Australia 7-1 on Sunday to finish World Baseball Classic Pool B play with four wins out of four.

Japan will next face Pool A’s runner-up in Thursday’s quarterfinal game at Tokyo Dome. Australia fell to a 2-1 win-loss record and will take on the Czech Republic on Monday for a spot in the last eight.