Japan dominates Italy, advances to WBC semifinals

Japan remained undefeated and advanced to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic on Thursday after a decisive 9-3 victory over Italy.

Shohei Ohtani started the contest, allowing four hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts across 4 2/3 innings.

The Japanese sensation was also 1-for-4 with two runs scored. He was outshined by teammate Kazuma Okamoto, who had a homer and five RBIs.

Japan is the only nation to reach the semifinals in all five WBC tournaments.

It will meet the winner of Puerto Rico-Mexico in Miami on March 20.