WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - CHINESE TAIPEI VS AUSTRALIA

March 5, 2026

David Nilsson

Tokyo Dome

Team Australia

Postgame Press Conference

Australia 3, Chinese Taipei 0

Q. Congrats on the opening win. How meaningful is it that in Travis's first World Baseball Classic he has a moment like the home run for your team but also for your country?

DAVID NILSSON: Yeah, I can say to a man everyone in the dugout is really pleased with Travis personally, but we're more pleased for the outcome of the game. It was a big run in that seventh inning when he hit it, and gave us that extra bit of breathing room.

He had a great night, a couple hits and playing really solid defense. Everybody is happy for him and he's made a big commitment to be here as has everyone else but hopefully there's more to come.

Q. We were talking about this yesterday just like 2023, you've been through it before, same situation almost, and you guys won game. So I asked you yesterday, how would that inform your preparation. How do you feel like that informed the players, especially with the way the crowd was do you think that experience helped them know what they need to do, like you said, we do this, we do that, we win?

DAVID NILSSON: Yeah, two innings this, as I said the experience of 2023, going through that the first game, beating Korea is something we could really draw on.

But I think as much, in 2024, we played against Chinese Taipei in the Taipei Dome and it was a really big loud experience and we knew it was going to be a full house today, and we had that to fall back on as well. The team showed today, they didn't falter and we weren't rattled at all and we just played good baseball.

Q. With Alex only throwing 46 pitches was there any talk of putting him out in the fourth inning or was that always the plan for him to only go three?

DAVID NILSSON: Yeah, Alex is a competitor and he would have loved to have gone back out, but that was our plan all along. We felt we had enough depth in our pitching that we were best served to keep him under that 50-pitch mark.

Q. So Alex Wells, you couldn't have asked for a better start, six strikeouts, three innings, five in a row. How impressed were you by his performance but also the fact that he's pitched the last two years in the Australian Baseball League what does that say about the level of play in Australia right now?

DAVID NILSSON: Yeah, he had a great outing obviously, had really good command and couldn't have given us anymore. He's a pretty slow out ^ that environment he was comfortable in.

As far as the Australian Baseball League, it shows that you can give guys like him who maybe finished overseas, gives them a platform that they can still play on and prepare to play against the best players in the world in events like these.

Q. What did you think of the atmosphere? When you come to Tokyo Dome and you play against Japan you get the atmosphere you had today, but to play against Taiwan and it's not even in Taiwan.

DAVID NILSSON: It wasn't a surprise. They have great fans. They are really passionate fans and Taiwan is not that far away. It's a pretty cheap flight. So coming over here for the week is a pretty easy thing to plan for.

Having the big crowd here by no means was a surprise at all, and we knew that the fans were going to be really supportive. I think it's really good we scored first to limit the noise a little bit. I thought it was a good baseball day all around. It was good baseball and we come out on the right side of it.

Q. In your roster, the top prospect for Major League Baseball, Travis, he has had home runs and great games in the international matches. What do you think of his future especially in 2026 for Major League Baseball?

DAVID NILSSON: He's shown he can handle big stages and he's shown that he can handle pressure. That's evident by the fact he was at first-round pick. He's comfortable. He knows how to play with expectation, and I expect it's going to put him in a really good place for this event but even for his career. I don't think that's going to be an obstacle for him.

Q. Could you just comment on the final inning there? There were some tense moments and maybe comment on the play that your monstrous pitcher made.

DAVID NILSSON: Definitely would have preferred a nice easy inning that last inning, instead of having to go down to the wire with tying run at-bat. He kept his calm. That's why we kept him in there. He keeps the ball in the field for the most part, and we have all sort of confidence in him pitching.

I think his height really came into play in the last. I don't know too many guys that would have been able to come up and get that. He was really comfortable with the game.