Two-time defending World Baseball Classic champion Japan endured a scare on Saturday one week before the start of the 2013 tournament, but backup catcher Ryoji Aikawa rescued his team with a three-run, eighth-inning homer in a 3-2 victory over Australia.

Koji Yamamoto’s Samurai Japan prevailed in the first of its two exhibition games as the teams prepare for the start of the WBC on March 2. Japan will open the defense of the titles won in 2006 and 2009 in Fukuoka in Pool A, while Australia ...

Entering a team in Australia’s Baseball League by 2014 and building a permanent facility was now in the sights of Baseball New Zealand after their credible performance at last month’s World Baseball Classic qualifying tournament, according to the sport’s chief executive.

Insert “Eddie Gaedel was a Hobbit” joke here.